


Before They Were Enemies

by RedfieldFamilyFan24



Series: Is This Really the Way? [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Bo-Katan Kryze Needs a Hug, Canon-Typical Violence, Death Watch (Star Wars), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, It probably won't follow the timeline exactly but I'll try my best to make it somewhat accurate, Korkie Kryze is a Kenobi, Mandalorian Clans (Star Wars), Mandalorians (Star Wars), Minor Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, New Mandalorians (Star Wars), POV Bo-Katan Kryze, Planet Concordia (Star Wars), Planet Krownest (Star Wars), Planet Mandalore (Star Wars), Pre Vizsla Being an Asshole, Satine Kryze Needs a Hug, True Mandalorians (Star Wars), child grooming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:00:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 74,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28540689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedfieldFamilyFan24/pseuds/RedfieldFamilyFan24
Summary: Bo-Katan was always told how her sister was special. However, she knew that she could never be like her despite what people wanted. She did know that she wanted to be a real Mandalorian. Scenes through Bo-Katan’s life as a child to joining Death Watch.
Relationships: Bo-Katan Kryze & Satine Kryze, Bo-Katan Kryze/Fenn Rau, But she is young so it's sweet and innocent, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Bo-Katan Kryze, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi & Satine Kryze
Series: Is This Really the Way? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119992
Comments: 79
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy. I've liked Star Wars since I was a child, but now I'm obsessed, and I wanted to write something from Bo's point of view because even though some hate her, I do not. There isn't a confirmed age for Bo as far as I know, and I've always imagined her as a decent amount younger than Satine so she will be in this story.
> 
> I'm going to move some events closer together so this won't follow the timeline exactly.

Someone was screaming so loud that it woke Bo. That was probably Bo-Katan Kryze’s first memory. She was laying in her bed about to drift off and then she heard it. At first, she thought it was just a dream. Something that would fade away. 

But it wouldn’t stop. 

And then her door flew up. Bo sat up, clutching her stuffed wookiee that Satine had given her for her fifth birthday just a few months ago. Satine came in. Her beautiful blond hair was wild as were her eyes. Bo had never seen her sister like this. She was always so calm. She was so much older than Bo. Older and their mother was always saying how special and smart Satine was. 

“Bo!” Satine hurried over and pulled her into a hug. Tears dotted her eyes. 

Bo didn’t even know what to do. This didn’t seem real so she just stayed still. 

“People are here,” Satine said. She pulled Bo-Katan out of her bed. Bo couldn’t even grab her stuffed animal or even her toy weapons. Bo had always loved toy blasters, swords, and even lightsabers. “They’re after us.” 

“After us?” Bo asked in a small voice. Yes, she had heard her mom whisper things to her advisors about how there might be a war, but it didn’t have to do with Bo, right? It wouldn’t actually hurt them. They were good? 

Satine nodded and scooped Bo up, even though she was a big girl, not little like some in her family thought. She could take care of herself. She fidgeted and squirmed until Satine let her go and instead just gripped her hand so hard it hurt. Bo tried not to react. 

“We need—” 

That was when their mother came storming into the room. Even now Bo noticed how much she looked like Satine. They had the same beautiful blond hair and their eyes were the exact same color. Bo had random red hair. Maybe her dad had had it, but he had died when she was super tiny, tinier than she was even now. Bo couldn’t remember him and her mom never spoke of him. 

Sometimes Satine told her stories about him late in the night. Bo loved those. 

“We have to get out of here,” their mother said, her eyes furious. She gripped Satine’s hand and pulled her away from Bo, making Bo feel alone for a moment before she told herself that she had to be brave and strong. “I told you Bo-Katan would be fine. Someone was coming to get her.

“I… I was—” Satine tried to say.

Bo gripped Satine’s other hand, tightly. She didn’t want her sister to leave. Luckily, Satine picked her up and held her close to her chest. Normally Bo-Katan would never have allowed it. She was four so a big girl and she didn’t want to appear weak. She wanted to be strong like in the stories she was told. 

But today… she was relieved to be close to Satine and to smell her sweet familiar scent. 

Their mother shook her head but she didn’t say anything else. She hurried out and Bo and Satine followed her through their estate. A couple of their guards hurried over to them. They were wearing their Mandalorian armor. Bo had always loved that armor. One day she wanted to have her own or rather their family’s. When she told Satine, she said she would hopefully never need that.

She was glad they had the armor on. 

“We need to go into our shelter.” Their mother was grabbing onto Satine again. Bo wanted her to grab on to her. To take her, but Satine was still the one holding her. 

The guards just nodded. “We’ll take you there. Don’t worry, these people don’t stand a chance.” 

“Satine is so special,” their mother said. “I don’t want anything to happen to her. They want… We have to protect Satine.” 

With this, Satine pulled Bo even closer to her chest. Bo cringed, but didn’t do anything besides resting her head against her older sister. They hurried through the estate. Normally it was all so familiar to Bo. It was her home, but now… it seemed wrong. People could break into it at any moment. She could hear blasters. 

And Satine was still crying admittedly softly. 

Bo reached out for her sister’s blond hair, hoping it would make her feel better. Her sister didn’t seem to even notice. Obviously, it wouldn’t make a difference. Still Bo wanted to help her. She wanted her sister to smile and be how she usually was. 

But it was helpful. 

They got to their shelter soon. 

Bo had been here a few times, but not because she needed to. It was super neat and clean, but there were some weapons in display on the corner and even their family’s armor, not that Bo’s mother used it. Bo didn’t understand why not. 

Sometimes she and her friends would sneak here when they were playing hide and seek. They would search the house for weapons so they could play Mandalorian warriors. Usually they were locked up though, but as soon as they got in here, Bo’s mother unlocked them, but she didn’t grab them. 

“It’s going to be okay,” one of the warriors said as he came over and put his arm on her shoulder. “We’ll protect you and your daughters.” 

Bo’s mom swallowed. “Thank you.” 

They just nodded and then left the three of them alone. Even though Bo could hear gun shots in the distance, it still seemed so much quieter. Their mother hurried over to the two of them and pulled Satine into her arms. Bo moved to the side. 

“It’s going to be okay, ad'ika,” their mother said, stroking Satine’s light blond hair. “I promise it’s going to be okay.” 

“There’s going to be a war, Mom,” Satine said. She was shaking. She was afraid. Bo didn’t like it. She was Bo’s big sister and she wasn’t supposed to be afraid. She was supposed to be brave. 

Should Bo be afraid if Satine was? No, Bo should be brave for Satine and their mom. For their whole family and clan. Right? 

Bo crawled away, but still studied her mom and her sister, both so similar looking. Satine had tears dotting her eyes, but their mother looked fierce and determined. 

“I don’t want this to happen, Mom,” Satine said. “Mandalore… this isn’t good for our people. All this war.” Satine said all of this as if it was the first time, but it wasn’t. Far from it. Satine was one of the only people Bo knew who didn’t like stories about Mandalorian warriors. She didn’t like anything violet and got annoyed when Bo played with toy weapons even. 

“I know, ad'ika,” their mother said. “And it’s going to change.”

“It’s going to change because I will make it change,” Satine said. 

They kept talking. Bo couldn’t just sit here. She couldn’t.

“Mama,” Bo said as she crawled back over to her sister and mother. Her mother reached out and ran her hand through her hair. “Is this—” 

“You should sleep, Bo-Katan,” their mother said. “It’s past your bedtime.” 

Did that even matter? Still Bo tried to sleep, even though she didn’t even have a thin blanket. Her sister had her head on her mother’s shoulder, but Bo was separate, and the ground was cold, but what really kept Bo from sleeping was knowing what was going on. Were they here to hurt Satine? Their mom always said how special Satine was. 

Bo couldn’t just wait here for this to end. She had to do something. She had to protect Satine. Satine and their mother kept whispering to each other, not paying attention to Bo. Normally this would have annoyed her. They should pay attention to her after all, but today it was for the best. It was even better when the two of them drifted off. Bo wasn’t stupid though. She knew her mom and sister would probably wake up if she made too much noise. Her mom sometimes lectured her saying that she was as loud as a wookiee who lost a game. 

She would be quiet this time. 

Bo tiptoed over to the weapons and managed to grab a blaster. Bo actually had used one before. Her friends’ parents had taken Bo with them once. They said something about how proper Mandalorians knew how to fight. And Bo wanted to be a proper and true Mandalorian. Even if her mom and Satine were different. 

Her family’s helmet was there too. It was made of pure beskar. Bo paused and ran her finger over it. It was so beautiful, not in the normal way, but still. She hesitated but then put it on her head. It didn’t fit and was too big. Bo didn’t care. It made her feel strong and brave. 

She snuck over to the door. Her mother muttered something in her sleep in Mando'a. Bo froze, expecting her mother to wake up and lecture her for wearing the helmet. She wouldn’t know what she had been planning. Bo would never tell. 

Her mother didn’t wake. 

Bo would have breathed a sigh of relief, but that was a noise. Instead, she crept toward the door and snuck out. The two Mandalorian guards were standing off to the side, talking to each other. They didn’t notice as she closed the door gently behind her. Obviously, they were more worried about people entering another way. Bo would never be able to get through that door, but she knew a secret way. 

Her mother could have told her, but she probably didn’t trust them. She always said your clan was who you could trust the most. They worked for them, but weren’t part of their clan. So she would probably want to keep her secrets. 

This gave Bo the chance to go over and sneak out that way. Now she could find a way to help her sister. Satine needed her. Bo was the little sister, but she was a fighter. She would stop these bad people. Or maybe she could get outside and find more people to help them. Was that a good idea? 

But she had only taken a couple steps when someone grabbed her roughly. Bo screamed and tried to hit him But he was wearing Mandalorian armor. She didn’t know if it was pure beskar, but it didn’t matter. 

“Look at this little womp rat,” the man said, still grabbing her despite her squirming. He even managed to take her blaster away as if it was nothing. Bo tried to kick him. She even tried hitting again. It didn’t work. He laughed and looked at his friend who was also wearing Mandalorian armor but who took his helmet off. He had super white blond hair, like Satine and their mom. “And you said we should go.” 

“That’s… We should still go.” He studied her like she was a puzzle. Bo was no puzzle. She was a girl! “She’s just a child. Not who we came here for. It’s… We were told that we need to go.” 

“Yes, but now we have her,” the man grabbing her said. He managed to take her helmet off. Now she tried to bite him, but it was pointless. “Stop it, womp rat.” 

“I’m not a womp rat. Let me go!” Bo demanded. “Let me go now! Or you’ll regret it!” 

He laughed. “Well, excuse me, princess.” 

“Just let the kid go,” blond mean man said. They’d all pay. “She’s just a little girl.” 

“Not just a little girl. She actually has got to be the little Kryze girl. The little princess.” 

“Not a princess!” Bo said and she wasn’t technically. 

“I… I’ll go and see if we should take her,” blond mean man said. “You should wait here.” 

“Wait here? That’s the stupidest idea.” 

“But she keeps fighting you.” 

“I can handle a little girl,” the one grabbing her said. 

Bo screamed and kept trying to fight him. He finally dropped her. She tried to escape, but he pushed her to the side. He sighed and pointed a blaster at her.

“Dank Farrik!” He looked at his comrade. “Fine, but hurry up.” He didn’t have to say anything else and blond man hurried away. “You better hope he’s fast, princess. I’ll shoot a child if I have to.”

Bo was about to say something, but then someone was grabbing the man and managed to pull his helmet up. Then he cut his throat. Bo had never seen something like that before. The man fell over. Dead. All she could do was stare. 

Dead.

It was one of the guards who had been protecting her mom and sister. He came over and picked her and her helmet up. Bo took the helmet away from him and hugged it tightly. “You’re not supposed to be here, Miss. Bo-Katan.” 

“I… I… Was trying to protect Satine,” Bo managed to say. Now it seemed stupid. 

He tsked and shook his head. “We need to get you back to your family.” 

“But another one… There’s another. He’s going to be back!” 

He nodded, but he still carried Bo away, even though she hated to be carried. 

“It’s going to be okay,” he said as Bo realized she was shaking. She couldn’t shake. She had to be brave. “We’ve got this under control. You’re all going to be okay.” 

All Bo could do was nod and clutch her family’s helmet even tighter. 

He soon got her back to the room. Their mother ran to her right away and hugged her tight. Warmth filled Bo, making her feel safe. 

But then her mother pulled away and slapped her in the face. Hard. Bo saw stars and galaxies. Tears filled her eyes. 

“Why would you do something like that? You could have been killed! What’s gotten into you, Bo-Katan Kryze! Your sister would never do something like that.” 

Now the tears were threatening to spill more, but Bo wouldn’t cry. She couldn’t. 

“I’m… I’m sorry, Mama.” 

“It’s going to be all right,” the guard said. He looked at them. “They’ll pay for trying to hurt Bo-Katan. Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur.” Which meant today was a good day for someone else to die. The people who grabbed her. 

He didn’t say anything else and left. 

Bo didn’t know what to say or do but luckily her mom just shook her head and went back to sit down. Now it was Satine’s turn to come over. She hugged Bo tightly and then kissed her forehead. Satine would never hurt Bo or anyone, but especially not Bo. She knew this. 

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Satine said. “I… I was so…” She hugged her again. 

“I’m sorry, Satine,” Bo said. 

“Mom shouldn’t have hit you.” Satine said, pulling away and looking into Bo’s eyes. She touched a lose strand of her red hair. “She was just worried about you.” 

“I… I just wanted to protect you,” Bo said. 

Satine stared at her and shook her head. “You don’t need to protect me. I’m the big sister, not you. I’m supposed to protect you.” 

As if that would happen. It didn’t matter that Satine was older. She was too peaceful. No, it was up to Bo to protect her.

“It’s always going to be you and me, Bo,” Satine said. “We’ll always be there for each other. It will always be the two of us.” 

And at that moment, Bo believed it one hundred percent. She believed that it would always be the two of each other and they would be there each other. 

She believed this not knowing what the fates held for them.


	2. Chapter 2

For awhile, things returned to some kind of normal. They had more security than before but no one tried to hurt their family. No one spoke to Bo about politics or war or battles, but she heard about it sometimes when people thought she wasn’t listening. This wasn’t different.

Now Bo wasn’t allowed to have friends over, despite how she pleaded and begged. She’d even be happy seeing those on her mother’s side. They obviously weren’t Kryzes. She and Satine were the last. 

“We don’t know what their families are up to, Bo-Katan,” her mother said dragging out her full name as she fixed her hair in front of her bedroom’s mirror. Bo had come in there, even though there mother usually didn’t want her to. “Besides, you’re fine here. You can play with your toys.”

“But they’re your family,” Bo begged. She wanted to play with her cousins again or with any children really. She wanted to play lightsaber and blasters with them. She just wanted to play.

“I know Bo, but there is a war going on. Things change during a war.” 

Bo titled her head to the side. She had heard of war her whole life, but now that their world was having problems, she still thought she’d be able to see her friends. She thought if anything they’d all fight together. In the stories she was told, Mandalorians were stronger together. 

Their mother paused but then brushed a lose strand of Bo’s hair from her forehead. Bo couldn’t help but lean forward craving her affection like she gave Satine, but her mother pulled away. “I know it’s hard, Bo-Katan, but you need to think of everyone else besides you. There’s a war going on.” 

“I know.” Bo bit her lip and then grabbed her toy blaster. “One day I’ll fight in a war. I’ll protect Satine and Mandalore.” It sounded right and more importantly it felt right.

But her mother laughed. “Oh Bo, you won’t have to do anything like that.” 

“Sat—” Bo tried to say.” 

“Your sister is going to change things. Mandalore won’t be the same. Things will be better.” 

“Really?” Bo tilted her head to the side. She still clutched her toy blaster tightly. She knew that Satine was special, but Saty didn’t say things like this. Just their mother. Saty never bragged or anything like that, but Bo knew she was special still. Not just because of what their mom said. Saty was just so nice. 

And she loved Bo. 

“Of course, Bo.” Her mother didn’t even look at her and instead stared in the mirror. 

“Mama,” Bo tried to say. “Satine says—” 

“I’m busy, Bo,” their mother said. She finally looked away from the mirror at Bo. “You should go work on your studies.” Bo was getting taught from home now and hated it. Her tutors were always glaring at her and acting like she was stupid. Sometimes they made comments about how Satine had been good at everything. “Go play with your toys.” 

“But Mama!” Bo didn’t get to say anything else.

“Things are going to change soon,” her mother said. Bo wanted to ask more, but she could tell she would just make her mother annoyed and she didn’t want that. Her mother would probably make her study something she hated or do chores. Bo ran off. 

Things did change soon. A lot. More than Bo would have thought. It happened so suddenly. When it happened, Bo was about to fall asleep. She was clutching her wookiee and her eyes were having a hard time staying open. 

And just like that the door opened and the room lit up. 

“Bo!” her sister said as she came over to her. Bo’s bed moved under Satine’s weight when her sister sat on it. “Are you sleeping?” 

“Mmmm?” Bo didn’t even open her eyes. She was dreaming of one day flying through space and seeing different planets. 

“Bo Bo,” her sister giggled. “I have some good news. Special news.” Her sister lightly nudged her again. 

Bo forced her eyes open Satine’s eyes were lit up with joy and something else. Something Bo wasn’t sure she liked. 

“I have news for you, little sister,” Satine said as Bo sat up. 

What is it?” Bo asked. She sat up and rubbed her green eyes.

There was a long pause. “I’m going to be duchess.” 

“Wh-what?” Bo asked, her eyes widening. She reached for her wookiee.

Her sister stroked her red hair. “I’m going to rule Mandalore. I’m going to be the duchess. It’s… it’s such an honor.”

Satine was going to be in charge of Mandalore? How could that be? Bo knew their family was royal and had ruled before but still… she had never imagined it. Her sister never said she wanted to rule. Yes, their mom was always saying how special she was but it still seemed crazy. Bo tried to grasp the idea, but it kept escaping before she could.

“But… You want to?” Bo tilted her head to the side. 

“I want to do what’s right for Mandalore.” She smiled at Bo. Bo tried to smile back, but it felt weird. All of this felt weird. “We need a new Mandalore.” 

Bo didn’t say anything but moved closer to her sister. Satine put her arm around her. 

“Mandalore could be peaceful. Don’t you want a peaceful world?” Satine asked as she pulled away slightly and looked at her little sister. 

Bo shrugged. She didn’t know. That wasn’t like the stories that she had always been told. Where their people were fighters and warriors. There had always been wars between the clans her whole life. It was worse now, but it was all she had ever known.

“It’ll be wonderful,” Satine said. “Trust me.” 

“Is…” Bo frowned and remembered how their house had been broken into. They had grabbed Bo. They could have taken her away. Maybe someone would try and do that again. Maybe they’d get Satine. “People are going to try and hurt you?!” 

Satine shook her head, but her eyes darkened for a moment. “You don’t need to concern yourself with me. I’ll be okay.” 

“No!” That wasn’t enough for Bo. “I’ll protect you.” Maybe she had failed before, but she would do better this time. 

“You don’t need to do anything like that. If anything, I’ll protect you,” Satine said. 

But that just wasn’t going to happen. “No, I’ll protect you,” Bo said as her sister took her hand. “I’ll make sure you’re safe.” 

Her sister just smiled and let out a nervous laugh, but it didn’t change what Bo knew she was going to do. What she had to do and what she wanted.

A few days later, her sister was going to have a coronation. Their mother kept talking about it over and over again. She had even dragged Bo into Satine’s room so the three of them could try and figure what Satine would wear. Bo played with one of her ships as her mother and her sister talked. Or rather as their mother tried to get her to decide on something. 

“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” Satine said, not even glancing at the dresses their mother had laid on her bed. 

“You should have a cerm—” 

“There’s a war going on and having a ceremony seems frivolous to say the least. Our people are suffering,” Satine said. “I shouldn’t be doing anything like this when our people are suffering.”

Their mother sighed in a way she normally only did with Bo. Bo looked up at the two of them. Her mother was giving her the same look that she always gave Bo too. Annoyed. It sort of felt nice to know she wasn’t the only one who annoyed their mother. She felt guilty for thinking that.

“This will be good for the people, Satine. It will be good for our allies and followers.” 

Satine crossed her arms over her chest. 

“Satine, it’s really not a big ceremony.” She sighed and tried to reach for Satine, but Satine stepped away. “It could help unite people.” 

“I don’t see how it would do that,” Satine said. “It could even be dangerous.” 

Dangerous? Bo looked up at her sister again. She didn’t want her sister to have to be in danger. Since she was going to be the leader of Mandalore, people might want to hurt her more. They might want to hurt all of them. 

“I can go and—” 

“Stop it, Bo-Katan,” their mother said, not even glancing at her. 

For a moment, Bo wanted to throw her ship at her mother’s face, but she pushed away the thought, even though her mom was being mean. 

“And just trust me on this, Satine,” their mother said. She touched a loose strand of Satine’s blond hair. “Have I ever let you down, ad'ika?” 

Satine pushed their mother’s hand away and paced back and forth. Eventually she sighed. “Fine… but this… It can’t be a big ceremony. Just something small. Maybe it will be good to let people know we’re not afraid.” She didn’t sound like she believed it. 

“I want to wear Mandalorian armor,” Bo finally piped in. “The family armor.” 

“Don’t even say something like that, Bo-Katan,” their mother said. “Satine is going to lead our world to peace. That armor…. We’re keeping it because it’s a Kryze family heirloom, but you and your sister don’t need it.” 

Bo pouted. “But I want—” 

“You don’t need something like that,” their mother said, snapping again. “We’ll put you in a dress.” 

A dress? Bo didn’t want to wear a stupid dress. She hated dresses! She was sure that it would be itchy and would restrict her so she wouldn’t be able to move around and play or more importantly protect Satine. Her mom would also probably want to put her in shoes that pinched her feet and maybe would even want to put something stupid on her head. 

“Or maybe you shouldn’t even go,” their mother said after a long silence. “You’re…” She bit her lip.

“Why wouldn’t she go?” Satine asked, her voice raising. “I want her to go. She’s going to be my heir.” 

“I know she’s going to be your heir and that’s why maybe she shouldn’t. It’s better not to let everyone know that Bo-Katan exists.” 

Not let them know she existed? Bo didn’t want to be hid away like some kind of bad secret. 

“And she’s only going be your heir until you get married and have kids of your own,” their mother continued.

“People already know she exists,” Satine said, ignoring the comment about kids. “We’re the Kryzes. People aren’t going to forget about her existence.” 

“People have short memories, ad'ika,” their mother said with a sigh. “But if you want Bo to be there then fine.” Their mother studied Bo. “You need to keep quiet about beskar armor, armor in general, weapons and… well, just keep quiet. You don’t want to embarrass your sister.”

Bo bit her lip and narrowed her eyes. 

“You need to do it for your sister,” their mother said. “You don’t want to embarrass her. Your sister is going to bring peace to Mandalore. We don’t want people thinking that her sister is obsessed with the old ways.” 

Embarrass Satine? Was she embarrassing? Bo didn’t think so but…

Their mother eventually basically picked out the dresses for not just Bo, but also for Satine. Then she left to go talk to someone else. Apparently, she had other things to plan. 

“I’m not going to embarrass you,” Bo said. 

Her sister nodded. “I know that.” She sighed and went over to Bo. “Don’t listen to what Mom says. She’s… She’s just doing what she thinks is best for us.” 

Bo shrugged her shoulders.

“I have something for you,” Satine said. “Something special.” 

“Present?” Bo titled her head to the side. She didn’t think she would get any kind of present. 

“It’s just something small.” Her sister went over to her jewelry box that she had since before Bo was born and pulled something out. She went back over to Bo and handed her a little star necklace. “Our dad gave this to me when I was your age.”

Bo took it from her and looked at it. She didn’t usually wear necklaces and when she did they were a lot different than this. And yet…

“I know it might not be something you’d normally pick, but Dad gave it to me and he’d… well I know you don’t remember him. Also I thought you having this would give you something to remember me if we were separated.” 

Bo looked up at her. “Separated?” 

“It means—” 

“We’re not going to be split apart.” She didn’t even want to think about that. She didn’t want to be alone with their mom especially since she couldn’t have her friends come over now. It would be like she had no one. 

Her sister nodded and kissed her head. “Still, I want you to have it. Just in case.” 

Bo didn’t like the sound of that. Not at all. Did her sister know something that she didn’t? Was she keeping a secret? 

“Trust me. Everything’s going to be fine,” Satine said. 

“Even the party Mom’s making you have.” 

“It’s not a party, but yes, even that. I promise.” 

Bo tried to believe her, but she suddenly had a bad feeling. A really bad one. Still, she clutched her new necklace and tried to believe her sister despite it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure what I think about this chapter, but here it is. Hope you all like it. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and please comment!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eventually I will move away from little Bo. It's taking longer than I thought, but I'm enjoying these chapters and I hope you all are. I hope you all like this chapter! Not going to like though, I'm really looking forward to the next one after this.

Just like Bo thought, she was forced to wear the worst dress in any of the galaxies and shoes that hurt her feet. She didn’t even think they fit her since they pinched so horribly. She couldn’t walk without pain shooting through her feet. 

“Mama, they hurt,” Bo whined as she sat down and pulled at them, trying to make them bigger. Maybe now her mom would let her wear something else. Like the armor. But she would be happy with just clothes that didn’t itch and pinch her feet. They had to leave their place soon, but they would have time. 

“You’ll be okay for a short time, Bo-Katan. You look pretty,” their mother said as she stood up off their couch and came over and pushed a strand of Bo’s red hair back. 

But Bo didn’t care about looking pretty. That was stupid. “I can’t—” 

“You don’t need to defend your sister,” her mom sighed. “And you should know since you’re obsessed with armor, that it’s not always comfortable.” 

Bo tilted her head to the side. “Really?” How would her mother know? Had she been different when she was younger. Before she had Satine, could she have been different? Probably not. She was probably trying to trick Bo. 

“Just be good and then you’ll make both me and Satine happy.” 

Bo stuck her lip out and put her hands on her hips. 

“It’s not too late for you not to go,” her mom said, and when Bo didn’t say anything her mom smiled. “Good. Just don’t say much when you’re there, Bo.” 

Bo didn’t know what she would want to say, but now that she was told not to say anything, she was sure there would be something. Bo was about to say something to her mother, but that was when Satine walked in. She looked pretty. Well, for the most part. Her hair looked weird. 

Still Bo did her best to hurry over to her, even though her feet hurt as she did. She jumped into her sisters arms even as their mother made a tsking sound. 

“Your hair looks weird,” Bo said, tempted to pull out some of the things in it. 

Satine frowned but just shook her head and put Bo on the floor. “We need to go now.” 

Bo didn’t say anything and left with her mom and sister. She was glad when she didn’t have to walk anymore because each step hurt. And she wanted to take off her shoes, but then her mother would throw a fit and would lecture her. 

When they got there, Bo wasn’t surprised to see the building was huge. Much bigger than her mother had described. And it was fancy. It had all sorts of paintings and pillars and things that were just fancier than Bo would have liked. It also had a painting of a weird lightsaber.

“That’s a painting of the Darksaber,” a random man who was near Bo said. Satine had already left to do… whatever Satine had to do but Bo was still with her mom. Her mother had wanted to go with Satine, but she ended up having to stay. Bo wished she could have gone with Satine. “Do you know about it, little—” 

“I know everything about it,” Bo lied. Really, she hadn’t been told anything about that, but she wanted to look smart.

“It’s one of the ancient weapons of Mandalore.” He looked at Bo and smiled. “It used to belong to—” 

But he didn’t get to finish his history lesson because his mother smiled weakly and nodded and then pulled Bo away. It was too bad because she wanted to hear the story.

“Mama, what’s that he was saying about the… Darksaber?” she asked. She looked around and saw that someone was serving small little cake like things. Bo wanted one, but the man wasn’t coming toward her. 

“It’s an ancient Mandalorian weapon,” her mother said, calmly. She walked over to the man with the little cakes and handed one to Bo. “But it doesn’t matter anymore.” 

“It looks like a—” 

“Yes, it’s like a dark lightsaber,” her mom said. Bo stuffed the cupcake in her mouth. It was somehow both sweet and… what was the word… savory? “There used to be a story that went along with it.”

“What’s the story?” Bo licked her fingers, trying to get the frosting off them, which caused her mother to pull her hands away from her mouth and glare at her. 

Her mother pulled her along and then grabbed a cloth napkin and handed it to Bo. “Back in…” she paused, thinking about what she was going to say. “In the past, it was used to determine who would be the leader.” 

Bo did her best to wipe her hands, but she could tell by her mom’s expression that she wasn’t doing good enough. “Satine should get it.” She tried to imagine her sister with it. She couldn’t, but she still thought it would have been amazing. She closed her eyes and tried again to see her sister with it. She once again failed. 

But she could see herself with it. 

Her mother sighed which caused Bo to open her eyes. “Don’t be silly, Bo-Katan.” Her mother gave her a weak smile and then took the napkin away from her. “The Darksaber doesn’t matter anymore anyway, so your sister won’t be having it. It’s… It’s something from Mandalore’s past and not its future.” 

Bo wanted to hear more about the Darksaber. Maybe if Satine didn’t want it, then she could watch it for her, but even when she tried to get her mom to talk more about it, she wouldn’t. She ended up giving Bo another cupcake though, which somehow was even better than the other one. It was so tasty. Maybe the best one she had ever had. 

She wanted to have a third one, but her mother found someone who led them to a back room where Satine was sitting on a chair. She was staring at her speech which she had been working on for ages.

“Satine!” Bo said, trying to go to her, but her mother grabbed her hand and pulled her away. 

“You might have frosting on your hands,” her mother said, even though Bo most certainly didn’t. She looked down at her hands to see if the blue frosting was on them, but of course there wasn’t. “You don’t want to mess up your sister’s outfit.” 

Bo stuck her lip out and pouted, but Satine still placed her speech down and came over, kissing Bo on the forehead. 

“Bo and I are so proud of you,” their mom said, since she said this all the time when it came to Satine. It wasn’t fair. She never said this about Bo, but everything Satine did was wonderful to her. Why couldn’t she be that way with Bo either? 

“Thank you.” Satine beamed perfectly. 

Their mom and Satine then talked about boring things and Bo just stood there wishing that she had more cupcakes. Or the Darksaber. That might be nice too. 

“Satine! Satine!” Bo said when her sister was talking to her mom and some political person about boring things. “I saw something!” 

Their mother let out a nervous laugh. “Yes, she saw a bunch of cupcakes. And she had a bunch of them too.” 

“Not those!” Bo said. “I saw the Darksaber. It was—” 

“Bo-Katan, you’re not going to talk about the Darksaber,” their mother sighed. “Sometimes it’s just not the right time to talk about the Darksaber.” Sadly, that wouldn’t be the last time she heard that. “Or any other weapon.” 

Satine giggled though. She opened her mouth to say something, but she didn’t get a chance because then someone came over and said it was almost time. 

Bo’s stomach twisted, but she ignored it and took Satine’s hand. Her mother gave them a look, but Satine didn’t pull away from Bo and led her on the stage. There were so many people. All sitting and standing staring at Satine and therefore also looking at Bo. Bo didn’t know what to think. It made her forget all about her shoes pinching and how the dress was so itchy. Even the Darksaber and the cupcakes left Bo’s mind.

It was crazy that all these people had come here to see Satine speak. 

Bo even wanted to hear what her sister was going to say. At least she thought that but then her sister started giving the same speech she had given before. It was stuff about a new Mandalore and peace and unity and blah blah blah. Bo couldn’t pay attention. She had heard her sister say this speech more times than there were planets in the galaxy the last few days. And the speech wasn’t that interesting. Not to her. 

Bo didn’t know how she was going to be able to stand here the whole time. She would go crazy. It was so boring and everyone kept looking at her. She bit her lip and swayed a bit to the side, which caused her mother to give her a look. 

Bo pouted and swung her arms back and forth. Her mother grabbed them and then it happened. 

There was a loud explosion. So loud. It hurt Bo’s ear. They rang. Another explosion. Bombs. They had to be bombs. 

Right? 

Something fell close to her. She had to run. She had to do something. 

But then someone pushed her to the side. Her mother. Her mother had done that. She gripped Satine who was being protected by a Protector Her mother then grabbed Bo also and they all left the chaos. 

Bo thought her sister would be a mess after that, but she was calmer. Calmer than Bo would have ever thought. Her mother was the one who kept pacing back and forth and talking to people. Satine would be there too and she would try and calm her mother and say things would be fine, but her mother didn’t seem to believe it and the officials kept coming. Bo knew that she wasn’t supposed to hear but her mother was also saying things about how Satine was in danger and they might try and kill her again.

Satine couldn’t die. She just couldn’t. Bo didn’t want to imagine what the world would be like if her sister just wasn’t in it. So she wouldn’t die. She just wouldn’t. It wasn’t possible. 

But something was going to change. Maybe some people would have to come and protect Satine. At least until Bo was ready to. That was what Bo told herself. 

Someone good would protect her sister. Or they better.

But she never would have predicted who was going to show up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! Please comment and leave kudos!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so everyone knows I'm going to be changing the title of story. I wanted to let you all know so there wouldn't be any confusion. 
> 
> I'm also going to be dividing my Chronicles of Bo-Katan into a series. Though people wouldn't have to read them all. This would be the first part though, which is goes up to her time in death watch. The second one will be about her time in death watch. And then I don't know how I'll divide up later ones. But this way the story won't be huge.

Bo knew something was up the moment she woke up that day. It was too quiet. The last month and a half had been insane with people constantly here and talking and now that was gone. Something was going on. She quickly pulled on a sweater over her pajamas and hurried out of the room. 

Could something bad be going on again? Normally when bad things happened it was loud, but it was never ever this quiet. So she was going to find out what was going on. She kept hoping that she would hear Satine or her mother, but nothing. Could she really be alone? Would they have left her?

Then she heard a voice that she didn’t recognize. She froze and clenched her firsts together. Who was that? Maybe it was just another Mandalorian guard sent to protect her sister, but he didn’t sound like any guard she had met. And she had met a lot of them recently. 

She opened the door slowly and peaked. Standing there were two men she had never seen before. One was older, maybe closer to her mom’s age. He was tall and had long light brown hair or maybe dark blond with some grey in it, and he looked wise and nice, even though she had no idea if he was. The other one was like Satine’s age. He had a stupid weird ponytail rat tail like thing. It was ugly. 

Bo knew instantly they weren’t Mandalorians. 

Even before she noticed the lightsabers. They were turned off and on their hips, but she knew instantly what those were. A Jedi’s weapon.

She let out a squeak and stumbled back, letting the door fall. What were Jedi doing here? Yes, Bo liked lightsabers, but Jedi?! 

“Someone’s there,” one of the men said. Maybe the younger one. 

Satine… Bo should tell Satine. But she didn’t get the chance. 

“Bo, is that you?” her mother called. 

Bo didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what her mother was doing talking to Jedi, but she should tell Satine. Satine was duchess now and she should know about this. 

“Bo!” her mother called again. Before Bo could do anything, her mother opened the door enough to grab Bo’s arm and pull her into the living room. Bo froze, not sure what to do or say. Maybe she should do something to protect her mom even if… well, she liked Satine more. But the Jedi weren’t doing anything.

So Bo didn’t do anything either and just stood there. 

Her mother put her hands on her shoulder. “This is my youngest daughter,” her mother said. Bo could hear the fake smile in her mom’s voice, even though she wasn’t looking at her face. “Her name’s—” 

“Why… why are they here?” Bo tried to sound fearless. Jedi could sense fear, right? She tried to push it away. 

Her mother let out her weird sounding laugh. “Bo, please.” Annoyed. She was annoyed with her, even though Jedi were here and Bo knew that Jedi used to be the enemy of Mandalore. Why were they here? Were they trying to hurt Satine, too? 

The older one smiled and took a couple steps toward Bo and then knelt down so he was at the same level as Bo. “Hello young one,” the older Jedi said. 

Bo stared at him. 

Her mother let out a strained laugh. “Bo doesn’t like to be called young. She thinks she’s all grown up.”

Bo pulled away from her mother’s grip at these words. Normally she wouldn’t like her mom saying what she did and didn’t like, but even if it was true Bo didn’t like being treated like a baby and normally she would have told her mom such. 

“I’m Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and this is my Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re—”

“I’m Bo-Katan,” Bo said, even though her mother had already said that. At least the Bo part. “I’m…” She looked at the lightsaber. “Bo-Katan Kryze…” she said this so quiet it was almost a whisper. It annoyed her. She shouldn’t be acting this way. No! She should be acting fearless.

“Bo… I’m sorry about how shy Bo is being.” Her mother gripped her shoulders again. So hard it almost hurt, but she didn’t allow herself to wince. “Bo-Katan loves stories. History. She loves history.”

Her mom usually wouldn’t say anything like that. She would say that she liked violent stories and that she should stop. 

“You like history, right, Bo-Katan?” her mom asked. 

“The jetiise…” Bo started to say quietly partially in Mando’a, but then her mother gripped her a little harder. Now Bo did wince. 

Jedi Qui-Gon reached out to her and Bo actually let him take her hand and pull her away from her mother. Part of her was glad because now her shoulder didn’t hurt. 

“I imagine you’ve heard… a lot of things, but I promise we’re here to help your family.” He smiled. Even though he was a Jedi, his smile calmed her. It reminded her of like a grandfather or father figure. Not that Bo had a dad anymore, but still.

“Yes, we’re here to help,” Obi-Wan Kenobi, the younger Jedi, said. 

Bo ignored him and looked at Qui-Gon. “You have… a kad'au.” That was stupid. Jedi wouldn’t know her language and she was about to correct herself. 

“We call them lightsabers, but yes,” Jedi Qui-Gon said. 

“What… wh-what color is it?” Bo asked. “Is it true they’re different colors?” They had to be, right? She heard they could be many different colors and she knew the Darksaber was black and that wasn’t normal. 

Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn nodded. “Yes, they’re different colors. Mine is green.” 

“Mine’s blue,” Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi said. What even was a padawan? Bo had never heard a word like that before. 

“What do the different colors mean? Do you pick them?” Bo didn’t wait for them to answer. “Once I saw a painting of one that was—” 

“Bo,” her mother interrupted her. “You don’t want to… bother the Jedi.” 

“She’s no bother,” Jedi Qui-Gon said. 

“I… You’re here to help?” she looked up at Obi-Wan and then back at Qui-Gon. “My sister…” She wondered if she should say this. She looked up at her mother who wasn’t reacting. “My sister is…” 

“Yes, they’re going to help Satine.” That was when her mother grabbed her again and spun her around. She sighed and then knelt to her level. This was weird. Her mom didn’t do that. “Ad'ika, I have something to tell you.” 

This was bad. Really bad. Her mother never called her that. She only called Satine that. 

“Mama…” Bo said, her voice shaking for a moment before she remembered the Jedi were here and she had to be brave. 

“Satine’s very important.” As if Bo didn’t know that when it was all their mom said. “And people want to hurt her.” Her mother reached out and touched one of Bo’s locks of hair. Bo normally would have pushed her away, but she didn’t. “Satine is going to do great things and you want her to be safe.” 

“I… I…” Bo nodded. “But I’ll protect Satine.” 

Her mother chuckled slightly. “Ad'ika, I know you would like to do that, but you’re still little. The Jedi are going to take Satine for awhile and guard her. They’re going to make sure that no one hurts her so she can do the things she was born to do.” 

At first Bo couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t even breathe. 

“It’s going to be for the best, Bo. The best for Satine, and I know that’s what you want.” 

“Satine… Satine’s going to leave,” Bo managed to say. She pulled away from her mom and stumbled back. She almost tripped, but Qui-Gon put his hands on her shoulders for a moment, which steadied her.

“Just for awhile,” her mom said. 

“We’re going to protect her,” Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi said. 

“Satine… she’s going to leave!” Bo said again. This time her voice broke and things were looking blurry. She wiped her eyes. “I don’t want Satine to leave.” 

“It’s only going to be for—” her mother tried to say, but Bo didn’t want to hear this. She couldn’t hear this. 

“No!” 

Bo pushed past her. She needed to talk to Satine. She had to. This had to be a lie! Satine wasn’t supposed to leave her. 

“K'olar!” her mother yelled. “Bo-Katan, get back here!” 

But she didn’t care. She ran as fast as she could. She had to get to Satine’s room. She would tell her that this was all a lie and she would stay with her. That she wasn’t leaving with Jedi. That she wasn’t going to leave Bo. 

But when she got to Satine’s room, Satine was sitting there with a packed bag next to her. Bo froze and this time let the tears fall. 

“You’re… you’re not supposed to leave me! You’re not supposed to do this. How can you do this to me?” 

“Bo…” her sister said in a small voice. She stood up. 

“I don’t want you to go.” Bo’s voice broke. “Please don’t leave me, Satine!” 

“Bo, it’s going to be okay.” Satine tried to hug Bo, but Bo pulled away. She didn’t want her to hug her when she was going to leave her. “I promise that I’m going to come back as soon as possible.” 

“I… I… don’t…” 

Satine touched her face. “I’m sorry. I should have told you. I should have, but I…” She shook her head. “It was hard. I have to do this, Bo.” She sighed. “I… If I stay here… People might come and then they might kill me. They might even hurt you. They could…” She paused. “They could kill you just because you were at the wrong place at the wrong time.” 

“I can fight them!” Bo said. “I can!” She didn’t want Satine to leave. She didn’t know what she would even do if her sister left. She had always been there. Every memory she had was tied to one with her older sister there. 

Her sister shook her head. “You’re… One day I’m sure you’ll be able to, verd'ika, but right now… right now I need to do this for you, mom, and everyone.” She got a far away look in her eyes. “For Mandalore.” 

Bo cried even harder now. Her shoulders were shaking. She never cried, not ever. It made her look weak and she wanted to be strong so much. 

Now when Satine hugged her closely, Bo let her. Bo pressed her face against her sister. 

“I know it’s going to be hard, Bo,” Satine said. “But everything’s going to work out in the end. I’ll be okay and you’ll be okay and before you know it, I’ll be back.” Her sister ran a hand through her hair again. “Maybe you’ll even like when I’m gone. You’ll have Mom to yourself. Won’t that be nice?” 

Bo scowled and slightly pulled away, but not completely. She didn’t want Satine to let go of her now. “I don’t want to be around Mama without you.” 

“But then maybe she’ll pay more attention to you and—” 

“I don’t want that! I don’t want her to!” Why was Satine saying this? Bo wanted her to stay. That was all that mattered.

“Bo, why? Why wouldn’t you want that? All our mother’s attention.”

“What?” Bo asked, confused at first. Why would her sister ask her that? She knew what she thought. She saw how their mom was. Their mom loved Satine. 

“Every kid wants to be their parent’s favorite,” Satine said. “Aren’t you looking forward to having her to yourself for a little bit?” 

She wasn’t. Not at all. She didn’t want to even imagine Satine being gone. 

“No! I love you, Satine. I love you. Not Mama.” Her voice broke for a moment. “Mama hates me and I hate her.” But the second part wasn’t true, but it should be. Why couldn’t she feel that way? 

“You don’t hate her, and she doesn’t hate you. She just…” Satine shook her head. “I know she’s different with you… but it’s because you remind her of someone…” 

“Of who?” Bo asked, but then she realized it didn’t matter. “I don’t care. I just don’t want you to leave, Satine. Jedi… Jedi are bad, right? They might hurt you?” It all came out sounding like a question. 

“They’re not going to hurt me, and Jedi… They’re not bad.” 

“They went against us! They did in the stories!” Bo had heard them. “Mandalore is good so they’re bad!” 

“I know that happened but… it’s much more complicated than that, Bo.” Her sister pulled away, which Bo didn’t like. Bo grabbed her hands. “They…Sometimes there are shades of grey. The Jedi… These ones won’t do anything to hurt me. They’re going to protect me.” 

Bo sniffled and wiped her nose with her arm. She then grabbed Satine’s hand again. “I… I don’t want you to go.” 

“I know, but it’s for the best.” 

“What if… what if you don’t come back?” Bo regretted saying that as soon as it came out. What if somehow even thinking that made it come true? She tried to push it from her mind, but now it was stuck there. Why wouldn’t it leave? 

She squeezed her hands. “I promise. I will come back.” 

“You swear?” Bo asked. 

“I do. I do. You and I will always be there for each other even when we’re apart. And we’ll always see each other again.” Satine pulled her into another hug. Bo didn’t want her sister to let go of her, but then there was a knock on the door. Was it the Jedi?

But their mother came in. 

“Satine, I apologize but it’s time to go.” 

That was all it took for Bo to start sobbing again. She didn’t even care that it made her look weak and little right now. She didn’t care that it made her look bad. She didn’t. Satine was leaving. 

Satine pulled away and grabbed her bag. She then took Bo’s hand again. The three of them left the room. Bo wished that somehow something would change. That their mother and Satine would realize that this was a bad idea and that Satine should stay.

It didn’t happen. 

And so they were back down to the Jedi. Satine quickly hugged their mother and then Satine to Bo’s level and then kissed her on the forehead before pulling her in a hug. “I love you, Bo. I promise I’ll be back.” 

“I love you.” Bo didn’t want to let go. 

Satine did it though. She went over to the Jedi. It didn’t even look right. Her standing there next to the young Jedi Obi-Wan. She should be with Bo and their mom. Not with these strangers.

“I promise we’ll protect her,” Qui-Gon Jinn said softly. His eyes were kind, but Bo didn’t care right now. 

“Yes, we’ll return her and make sure she’s safe,” Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi said. 

“You better,” Bo snarled, blinking through her tears. “If Satine dies, then I’ll kill you.” 

“Bo!” their mother said, and she tried to pick Bo up, but Bo squirmed away. 

“I mean it! I will! I swear I will!” 

The Jedi didn’t seem to be fazed by this. Jedi Qui-Gon didn’t react and Padawan Obi-Wan just blinked and titled his head to the side. 

“Your sister seems very Mandalorian,” Padawan Obi-Wan said to Satine. What did that even mean? That was obviously a good thing. 

But Satine glared at him. “Yes, she is just like I am.”

Padawan Obi-Wan stayed quiet now but nodded halfheartedly. 

“Your sister is lucky to have someone like you,” Jedi Qui-Gon said to Bo. 

“I’m the lucky one,” Satine said. 

Bo couldn’t even respond. Their mother tried to pick Bo up, but she squirmed away. Why was she trying to be this way now? Acting all loving and weird. 

When Bo squirmed away, she put her arms around her instead, holding her close to her. Bo didn’t like that either, but she had a strong grip. 

Jedi Qui-Gon looked at her mother. “You should think about what I said about your younger daughter.” 

They had mentioned her? What had they said? 

“I will.” Her mother actually kissed Bo’s cheek, which caused Bo to flinch. Bo wiped the kiss away with the back of her hand. “I don’t want anything to happen to either of my daughters. Not Satine or my sweet Bo-Katan.” 

Sweet Bo-Katan? What? Bo looked at her mother, confused. 

Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn nodded. 

They didn’t say much else. They left with Satine. Leaving Bo alone with her mother. 

Her mother sighed and pulled Bo into a hug. It didn’t even feel natural. “I know this is hard for you, but—” 

“Let me go!” Bo yelled, yanking herself away from her mother. “You made Satine leave! You made all of this happen.” 

“Bo-Katan!” 

Bo wondered if her mom would hit her again since she was talking back. She didn’t care if she did. 

“I want Satine and now she’s gone. She’s gone! She’s gone!” 

“Bo-Katan Kryze!”

Bo didn’t care what her mother said whether she used her full name or no. She didn’t care if she hit her or not. She just didn’t. 

“I hate you!” Bo yelled. 

She ran out of the room before her mother could say anything else. She was just as alone without her mother than with her. Satine was the only one who loved her and she was gone. 

Gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this might seem to contract the Clone Wars Episode The Lawless, but I have a plan so don't worry.
> 
> Thank you all for reading! Please leave kudos and comment!


	5. Chapter 5

Bo slept in Satine’s room the next few weeks. She would cuddle up in her blankets, which still somehow smelled like her. Sometimes she would wake up and think that everything that happened was a dream. Then she would remember that Satine was still gone. 

Still she liked those moments when she thought she was back. She had dreams that she was too. But those weren’t the only dreams she had. 

Today, she woke up gasping for breath. She clutched the one toy she had brought into this room as if her life depended on it. Her dream… It… In it… Satine had been…

Satine’s door opened and Bo somehow clutched the toy tighter. Bo knew that, even though Satine was gone, people still wanted to get in here. They probably wanted to hurt Bo too, even though she wasn’t duchess and would never be anything like that. She wasn’t going to lead Mandalore. 

It could be a bad person here.

The light flicked on. It was just her mother.

“Mama!” Bo said. Part of her wanted her mother to comfort her like Satine did when Bo had nightmares. “I… I had a bad dream… It was about Satine.” 

In her dream Satine had died. She had been all alone. The Jedi had been gone. They hadn’t protected her after all. When Bo closed her eyes, she could still see her sister pleading with her eyes for someone to help her. For Bo to help her. 

Her mother frowned and then went over to Bo. “It’s… I’m sorry, Bo.” She reached out and touched a strand of Bo’s hair. “It was just a dream.” 

“But I—” 

“Bo, it’s good you’re awake,” her mother said as she pulled Bo’s blankets away. “You need to get up. You’re going to be leaving.” 

“Wh-what?” Bo rubbed at her eyes. She didn’t understand. Why was her mother saying something like this? 

“You need to leave,” her mother said. “Someone is going to be taking you somewhere safe. Somewhere off planet.” 

“Off planet?” None of this even made sense. 

Her mother pulled her out of bed. Bo let out a cry and almost fell but her mother half caught her and pulled her to her feet. 

“But it’s late.” Bo still didn’t understand this. Satine was the one who had left. She was the one who was the duchess. Bo was just Bo. 

“Yes, and that’s a good thing.” Her mother handed her a bag that she had packed. “People will be less likely to see. If they don’t know you’re gone right away, then they won’t be looking for you.” 

“But I… But I…”

“We have to hurry,” her mother said. “I didn’t think this would all happen so fast.” 

Bo didn’t get to say anything else. Her mother pulled a sweater over her pajamas, not even bothering for her to change into something else. She gripped her hand tightly and pulled her out of the room. Normally Bo would have tried to question her, but this all seemed like a dream. It couldn’t be real. 

“Mama, I want to get my—” 

“I packed some of your toys, Bo,” her mother said. “Besides, you’ll get new ones.” 

“But Mama! I don’t… I want to get something Satine got me!” 

Her mother froze, but Bo was sure that even this would be enough. Her mother nodded slowly. “Okay, but you need to hurry up, Bo-Katan. I mean it. We need to get you out of here.” 

Bo nodded and ran out of the room to hers. Her heart was beating fast. Bo had barely gone in her own room the last few weeks. She preferred to spend her time in Satine’s, even though her mother had complained about that, saying she would make it a mess. That hadn’t stopped Bo. She paused but also pulled the necklace out from one of her drawers and put it on. It reminded her of Satine, even if necklaces weren’t her favorite thing.

She just wanted something that would remind her of Satine. 

Her mother came in the room soon and sighed. “It’s time to leave.” 

Bo turned and looked at her. Her mother had black circles around her eyes. “Mama, can I go be with Satine and the jetiise?” Yes, she had been told the Jedi were bad, but they were protecting Satine and she was supposed to be with her.

“No, you’re not going with them.” Her mother came over and gripped Bo’s hand tightly. “She needs to be separate from you.” 

“Why?” Bo asked as her mother dragged her out of the room and down the stairs. She was going so far that Bo tripped and fell down. Her mom let go of her and Bo let out a cry. Her mother yanked her up, causing her to whimper. 

“You’re fine, Bo.” Her mother continued half pulling and half dragging her along. Why didn’t she wake her up earlier if she was in such a hurry, and why didn’t she tell her?

“I want to be with Satine and the jetiise,” she said, letting out a cry. She yanked away from her mother. “Please!” 

Her mother stopped and spun to face her. “You can’t be with them because…” she wiped at her eyes. “Well, you need to be apart from Satine in case something happen.”

“Like what?” Bo asked, tilting her head to the side. 

“Don’t make me talk about this, Bo-Katan!” her mother lectured, causing Bo to step back. Why was she being this way? Her mother sighed. “In case Satine… dies…” 

“Wh-what?” Bo asked, her voice breaking. Satine couldn’t die. She couldn’t. She couldn’t! She just couldn’t! 

“She’s… She’s going to be fine but…” 

“But then why can’t I be with Satine.” Bo stomped her foot on the floor, despite knowing that her mother wouldn’t like that. She didn’t care.

Her mother tried to touch Bo’s ginger hair, but Bo scowled and pushed her hand away from her. 

“Just in case,” her mother whispered.

Before Bo could ask more questions, her mother grabbed her hand again and pulled her outside. There someone was waiting in a speeder Bo had never seen before. The driver stepped out and looked at them. She was wearing a helmet so Bo didn’t know who she was, but she had a feeling she had never seen this person before.

The woman came over and hugged her mother even though she was still in her armor. Bo was still frozen in place. The woman than pulled away and looked at Bo. “Aww, is this Bo-Katan. She looks so much like her father.” 

Bo didn’t even know what to say about that.

“I’ll make sure that she gets to the ship,” the woman said. She reached out to Bo, but Bo took a step back. The woman just looked at Bo’s mother in response. “Do you want to go with us?” 

Her mother wouldn’t. She’d make Bo go alone now. She was probably still mad at Bo for saying that she hated her when Satine left, but that wasn’t Bo’s fault. Her mother was mean and she made her sister leave her. And now she wasn’t letting Bo-Katan join her and the jetiise.

“Mama, if I go with Satine, I can make sure—”

“Stop it, Bo-Katan!” her mother scolded. Then she gave her friend a forced smile. “Yes, I’ll go with you to the ship.” Bo looked up. Her mom really wanted to go see her when she left? She wasn’t just going to let her go. Her mother touched Bo-Katan’s red hair. “I have some important things to talk to my girl about.” 

And that was all it took for Bo’s stomach to sink. She would have wanted to see Satine off just because she was Satine. 

Still she let her mother pick her up and put her in the speeder. She climbed in after Bo and then the woman got in. At first, Bo watched as they drove around, trying to take in everything, but eventually her eyes begin to droop. She wanted to stay awake. She really did. 

But she couldn’t and soon drifted off against her mother’s shoulder. 

She dreamed of the war ending and Satine coming back. Everything would be good again and the tasty cupcakes from Satine’s fancy event even made an appearance. They were just as good as Bo remembered. No! They were better. The Darksaber made an appearance too. In her dream, Satine made Bo-Katan promise that she would defend her with the Darksaber. Obviously Bo said yes. The jetiise were jealous of the Darksaber because their lightsabers just weren’t as good. Also one of her stuffed animals kept dancing. Bo wanted to dance with them. Everyone should. 

Then someone was shaking her shoulders. 

“Bo-Katan, it’s time to wake up,” her mother’s voice said, making the dream fade away. Bo moaned and kept her eyes closed. 

“She’s so adorable,” the woman cooed. “I love her red hair. It’s so uncommon.” 

Bo kept her eyes closed. Sleep was trying to take her again. She snuggled against her mother’s arm. 

“Yes, she’s cute, but she’s a handful,” her mother sighed. “Satine wasn’t like this when she was her age.” 

Bo could almost see the cupcakes again. That was how close she was to falling asleep. 

“Satine might not have been like that but what about…” 

Bo didn’t get to hear the rest because sleep took her again. The cupcakes were going to come back. 

At least that was what she hoped, but then she was shaken awake again. This time, they didn’t let her fall back asleep. 

“Stop it!” Bo whined, thinking that she was back in Satine’s room at first. But it didn’t feel like she was under her soft warm blankets. “Stop!” 

“It’s okay, Bo-Katan,” her mother picked her up and Bo had no choice, but to open her eyes. It was still dark out, but they were in a strange place now. There was a large ship near them. Bo had never actually left Mandalore before, even though she dreamed of exploring the galaxy. 

But right now she didn’t want to go. That would make her further away from everyone. 

“Mama!” Bo said, struggling to get away. 

“Bo-Katan, stop this.” Her mother finally put her back on the ground. “You don’t want to make our family and clan look bad.” 

Bo pouted and stuck out her lip. 

“It’s going to be okay” the woman said. She had removed her helmet and was beaming at her. She looked at Bo’s mother. “I’ll make sure to get your daughter safely off planet, cousin.” 

“Cousin?” Bo tilted her head. “She’s… She’s your cousin?” Bo had only met some of her mother’s cousins once and they weren’t here. 

The woman just smiled. “Aliit ori'shya tal'din.” So she wasn’t biologically related to them. 

“Yes,” Bo’s mother said. “We grew up together.” 

Her friend nodded. Bo tilted her head to the side. 

“But I need to talk to my little Bo-Katan now,” her mother said. She tried to grab Bo’s hand but she pulled away. Still her mom’s friend left to check out the ship, leaving Bo alone with her mother. 

“I want to be with Satine and the Jed—” 

“You can’t,” her mother said. “And you need to stop mentioning the Jedi also.” 

Bo stomped her foot, which caused her mother to glare at her. 

“Stop behaving like an adiik,” her mother said. “You want to grow up so badly so act like it.” 

Bo just stared at her and kept shooting her evil looks. 

“It’s serious. You can’t mention who Satine is with. You need to act like you know nothing about what is happening. Really you shouldn’t talk about Satine much.”

“But—” 

“Don’t you want your sister to be safe? Do you want to be the reason something happens to her?” 

Bo took a step back. Would talking about her really cause her to be in danger? “I-I don’t want Satine to get hurt.” 

“Then be a good girl and don’t mention her or the Jedi.” Her mother sighed and touched her red hair. Bo flinched, but didn’t do anything.

That was when her mother’s friend came back. “I know you probably don’t want Bo-Katan to leave now, but—” 

Her mom paused but then hugged her friend. “No, it’s okay. You can take her. Thank you so much for doing this. For taking Bo to the people who are going to watch her. It means a lot to me, Shay.”

Shay… So that was her friend’s name. 

Shay nodded.

“Make sure you tell them to keep Bo away from any of the major clans. The Vizsla, the Wrens, the—”

“Of course, I will, but I’m sure they plan to do that.” 

Bo’s mom just nodded. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to go?” Shay asked as Bo’s mother let go of her friend. “I’m sure it will be okay. Then you’ll have more time with her.”

Her mother shook her head. “No, it’s better if I don’t know exactly where she is. Bo will be safer then.” 

“As if anyone could break you. You—” 

“I shouldn’t know,” her mother said not letting her friend finish. 

Shay just sighed and gave Bo a sympathetic look. “Okay, I’ll make sure she gets there safe. I just thought she might like her mother—” 

“Shay, please,” her mom said. “Please. This is hard enough as it is.” 

Shay paused but nodded. 

That was when Bo’s mom got down on her knees and pulled Bo into her arms. It felt weird and unnatural, not like when Satine hugged her. Her mother then pulled away, paused, and then kissed her on the forehead. Her lips were cold. 

“You be good for Shay and also for the family you’re staying with. I better not hear that you weren’t.” 

“I’ll be good.” 

Shay went over and took Bo’s hand. Hers was nice and warm, unlike her mother’s usually were.

“Goodbye, Bo-Katan,” her mother said. She reached out, but then dropped her hand before she could touch her again. Her mother looked at her as if she was going to say something else, but she didn’t.

And Bo was let onto the ship. 

Bo thought her first time going off planet would be amazing. She thought that she would want to see everything, but now she was just tired. All she could think about was Satine, their mother, and how she didn’t even know when she would come back. 

And it was cold. So cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to give special thanks to MandoGab and my sister from another mister, egnirys. 
> 
> Thank you all for kudos and comments. I live on them.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank my friend Egnirys for letting me name my Lottie after her Lottie.

Bo woke up to a winter wonderland as Shay carried her out of the ship. The world was covered in white. The world didn’t even look like it could be real and instead something out of a story. Not the war ones, but magical ones. Bo recognized that the white stuff on the ground was snow, even though she had never seen it before and had only heard about it. Satine had told her about the times, she had seen it and how she would make snowmen and snow angels. Bo had asked about snow ball fights and would imagine having her own one day with Satine. 

But now here she was without her and only with Shay who was a stranger. 

“Bo-Katan, you’re awak—” 

“I want down,” Bo said squirming. She didn’t want to be carried and she wanted to feel the snow with her own hands and she just didn’t want to be carried because she wasn’t a baby. 

“You sure. The snow is—” 

“I want down.” Bo squirmed. Shay must have draped a blanket around her when she was sleeping because there was a gold one around her shoulders now. 

Shay just nodded and put her on the ground. She sank slightly into the snow, surprising her. She thought she would just be able to walk on top of it. Liquid sank into her shoes, which caused her to cringe. 

She knelt down and scooped up some of the snow. It was cold and wet. She didn’t know what she had expected from it, but this wasn’t it.

“You’ve never seen snow before?” Shay asked. She grinned at her. “You’re in for a treat. It snows a lot here. You’re going to have so much fun.” She put her hands behind her back for a moment and leaned slightly back on the heels of her feet. “Maybe I shouldn’t say this but I like this planet more than Mandalore itself. I like cold weather.” 

Bo frowned and got down on her knees. She tried to roll some of the snow into a ball and managed to do it. For a moment, she forgot about what had happened and smiled. Maybe she could make a snowman like her sister had mentioned. Or rather maybe a snow Mandalorian. That was better than some regular snowman. Perhaps she could even make a jetpack for her because a girl snow Mandalorian would clearly be better. 

But then she remembered how Satine wouldn’t be here. She didn’t know where she was and she wasn’t even supposed to talk to her. 

She shivered and not just because it was so cold here. Cold enough that it chilled her to the bone, not like Mandalore, which was warm. 

“We should get going.” Shay reached out and took her hand after adjusting Bo’s pack, which she was now carrying. She didn’t seem to realize that Bo was now just staring at the snow blankly. “You’ll have plenty of time to play in the snow later.”

Bo yanked her hand away, but nodded. She followed Shay around. The snow got into her shoes even more and now her feet were starting to go numb. She didn’t like this. She looked up and saw just the sky and clouds, no glass like where she was from. 

“Trust me, you’ll learn to like it,” Shay said. 

Bo didn’t say much else and just walked alongside her. She tried not to shiver or react at all. She was going to be strong so everyone could be proud of her, maybe even her mom. Mostly Satine though. 

But it was so cold and soon she was shivering. She clutched the blanket closer, but it didn’t help much. The wind was blowing hard now, making a howling noise like a wolf. Bo was about to mention she was cold, but then she saw a speeder in the background. 

Bo couldn’t help but smile. When they got over to it, Shay picked her up and put her in and soon they were off. Soon Bo’s toes were starting to get feeling again. As they flew, Bo looked at everything that passed. There were so many trees here, more than they had back home. Most of the trees there looked almost like decoration. Not here. Here the trees looked like they belonged. 

Maybe she would try and climb one later. She could imagine it now. It would almost be as good at having a jetpack. Okay, so maybe it wouldn’t be near as good as that, but it would be something. 

It didn’t take too long for them to arrive at a small house alone in the wilderness. It didn’t even seem real to Bo. She was used to big cities like in Mandalore. She paused at first not wanting to move away from the speeder. This all seemed so different. Bo lived in a huge house. Some people called it a palace. She was always with Satine. Of course, her mom was technically there, but sometimes it didn’t seem that way. 

Shay tried to take her hand again, but Bo pulled away from her and just walked to the side. She was going to show the people she was staying with that she wasn’t a baby. She was a fighter.

Shay knocked on the door and an older couple opened it. They both had dark brown hair or maybe it was black. Their hair was pretty and so different than the blonds she always saw on Mandalore. But they looked nice enough and Bo smelled something good. Something sweet. 

“Bo this is Tia and Orie Cras. They’re going to be watching out for you. They’re in—” 

She didn’t get the chance to finish because then one of the other doors in the house flung open and a little girl came cartwheeling in, her legs perfectly straight and even toes even pointed. Her blond braids followed her. She stopped and grinned. 

“You’re Bo-Katan,” the girl said. She grinned and leaned back on her toes. “I’ve been waiting for you. It’s so boring playing alone.” The girl then did a handstand. Now Bo wanted to do gymnastics too. She liked doing flips or trying too even though once she hit her nose and it bleed everywhere. 

Her mom had been mad.

Bo nodded to the girl.

Tia smiled and knelt next to the two girls. Even though it looked like Lottie was a few years older than Bo, she was about her same height. Lottie grinned and pulled out a blue macaroon cookie out of her pocket, which she offered Bo. 

Bo took it and shoved it in her mouth. It was so sweet and tasty. 

“You two are going to be best friends,” Tia said. She ruffled Lottie’s hair. “Lottie really does want a playmate.” 

“Yeah, it’s boring here. It’s better at home when I can play with the others in my clan and just fun people.” She made a face. “Not grownups.” 

“Grownups are boring,” Bo agreed. Or at least her mom was. Satine was basically a grown up, but she wasn’t boring, even if she didn’t like fun things like Bo did. She wished she could be with Satine and the Jedi. She really could have protected her. 

Better than the Jedi or she could learn to be better than them.

“We have lots of fun things for you two both to play with,” Orie said. 

“Like toy blasters that actually shoot and toy swords and even some little jetpacks that go in the air a tiny bit,” Lottie said. 

Jetpacks! Bo’s eyes lit up. She wanted to play with all of those but especially the jetpacks. She could fly through the air like an owl and she would see everything. She would be free. 

Shay shot her a look and mouthed something that might have been Bo’s mom’s name. No! She wasn’t going to ruin her fun here. She didn’t let her go with Satine and the Jedi so she should be able to do this. 

“We have other things too like stuffed animals and—” Tia started to say. 

“No, I want to play with those.” Bo pushed her red hair back. “I want to play with those because I’m going to be a Mandalorian warrior and protect…” She wanted to say Satine, but she remembered how her mother told her not to mention her. Or she could be in danger. “I want to protect everyone.” 

Their toys sounded better than hers too and now she would have someone to play with. 

“I’m going to be that also,” Lottie said. “Almost everyone in my family is. We’re warriors.” 

“I… Mine is…” Or rather they had been. Not anymore, but that didn’t change what Bo was going to be.

Shay didn’t even blink and just looked at the other adults. “What are you going to tell people Bo-Katan and Lottie are?” 

“Foundlings if anyone asks,” Tia said. “But people usually keep to themselves. We usually just keep to ourselves.” 

“That’s why I need a friend!” Lottie said. She took out another macaroon and ate it. “It’s so boring here.” 

Bo already liked Lottie.

Shay smiled and hugged Bo for a moment before leaving. Even though Lottie seemed fun and not at all boring, her stomach dropped when Shay left. Now she was really gone. These people she was staying with might not know her mom at all. 

“You should show Bo-Katan some of the toys, Lottie,” Tia said, pushing Lottie forward gently. Lottie didn’t need to be told twice and she grabbed Bo’s hand. Bo yanked her hand away, but she still followed her. 

“We’re going to be the best of friends,” Lottie said, pushing one of her blond braids out of her face. “I just know it.” 

Bo mostly was just friends with Satine who was so much older, but part of her hoped that she was right. She liked playing with kids her age, especially when they also liked toy blasters and sabers. 

Lottie loved those. As days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, the two grew closer. They would spend hours each day shooting each other with the blasters, which really were better than the ones Bo had. They’d hit each other with toy swords, and when that wasn’t enough, with sticks. Once Bo struck Lottie in the face with one causing a cut over her eye. 

Tia tsked and Bo knew she was going to be in trouble. This was the time her mother would lecture Bo… at least…

Instead, Tia just came over and ruffled the girls’ hair. “Are you all right, ad’ika?” 

Lottie nodded.

Tia chucked. “Next time don’t hit each other in the faces, girls, unless you’re wearing helmets. You don’t want to hurt your eye sight if you’re going to be warriors.” 

“We are going to be,” Lottie said. 

“The best,” Bo said, but she was still surprised by this reaction. It was just not how her mom would have been. Her mom would have yelled and then Satine would have pulled Bo close to her and comforted her saying that their mom didn’t mean it. 

The two of them played and played fought all the time. They would play wrestle and leave bruises even, not that Bo cared. She was fine with bruises, used to them even. Sometimes even other kids were around and they would play warriors too. 

Bo and Lottie would practice flips too. Bo got actually good at back and front handsprings. She loved the feelings of lying through the air. The two of them would also climb trees. Bo always went higher. Even though Lottie acted like she was pure tomboy, she sometimes would go through times when she would want to wear dresses almost like Satine. They didn’t make climbing easy. 

Bo would climb so high that she could see the tops of the Tia’s house. It made it easier to imagine the future when she would have her own jetpack and could fly like an owl. She would able to fly both in the day and the night, protecting people who were important to her always. 

And Bo never fell. 

Never. 

Still Bo thought about Satine a lot, especially at night. She shared a room with Lottie, but when Lottie drifted off to sleep, Bo would think about what really mattered. Satine. She’d imagine what it was like for Satine. Tia and Obi and Lottie spoke about the Jedi sometimes. It was never good.

They spoke about the Jedi and the horrible things they used to do to the Mandalorians. To us. Satine was pure Mandalorian like Bo. Bo heard stories about how the Jedi were horrible and evil. Bo thought about it all the time. Satine all alone with two of them. They could do horrible things to her. They could hurt her. 

It was Bo’s job to protect her and she was gone. She’d see Satine and she could do nothing. She’d try and scream to her. Satine would be alone and then they would show up. They’d act all friendly and nice. Satine ran to them. Her smile would meet her eyes. In Bo’s dreams it was always the young one she went to… Obi-Van or Wan or something equally stupid like that.

“Obi, I’m so---” Satine would try and say.

And that was when it would happen. Satine… She would… She died… It was always different. Always. Sometimes she was stabbed. Sometimes she just collapsed. Sometimes there was explosion. She always died.

Bo wanted to do something. Anything. Satine was her sister. Her best friend. But she couldn’t. All she could do was watch. 

Someone shook her shoulders. 

“Wake up, Bo Bo. Wake up!”

Bo shot up, almost colliding with Lottie who was sitting on her bed now and leaning over her. 

Dream. Bad dream. 

“Are you okay?” Lottie asked. “You were talking in your sleep.” 

“I… I…” Bo nodded and brought her knees to her chest. Why did she always have these bad dreams? She was happy here, but they were ruining it. If only she could see Satine. If only Satine could be here. No one had attacked Bo. She was safe.

“Who is Satine?” Lottie asked. 

Bo froze. No! No! No! She wasn’t supposed to know. She was her friend, but she still wasn’t supposed to know. Lottie spoke a lot about her uncle and Bo just knew that Lottie’s uncle wouldn’t like Satine. He was probably one of the people trying to hurt her. It was strange Lottie and Bo were here together if Lottie’s clan and house were bad, but Bo still liked her. 

Maybe even Bo too, not that Bo cared as much about that.

“Is she your sister?” Lottie asked. Before Bo could respond and deny it with all she had, Lottie continued. “It’s okay. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Really?” Bo asked, not sure if she believed her. Her mom said not to tell anyone. 

“Promise.” She reached out and took her hands. Bo pulled away. “Is she with the Jedi? Sometimes you mention them too.” 

This was a nightmare. A really really bad one. Bo had been good. She hadn’t told anyone about Satine and the Jedi, but now Lottie knew anyway. How could this happen? 

“That’s bad,” Lottie said, even though the lights were still off, Bo could see her eyes were wide. “The Jedi are bad.”

“I-I know, but these… they’re going to protect my sister. My sister who is… we’re just normal. Normal.” Bo hated how this sounded. “These Jedi are good.” Right? They had to be. Their mom loved Satine more than anyone in the world. She wouldn’t send Satine out with bad Jedi, right? 

“Have you heard the story about Demagol?” Lottie said this in a whisper. 

Bo shook her head. 

“He was this really bad person. He would kidnap children like us and do horrible, horrible experiments on them. He would cut them and hurt them and try to make them weird Jedi freaks. I heard there was one kid who tried to escape. She was so far, but then they grabbed her, even though she pleaded for them to let her go. He wouldn’t and then she was taken away and…” Lottie shook her head. Bo bit her lip and didn’t say anything. “The children were never seen again.” 

Bo’s eyes widened and her heart pounded. She had never heard a story like this before, even if she had been told the Jedi were bad. 

“He was a Jedi?” Was this story true or was it something that Lottie was making up. But why would she make up a story?

Lottie shrugged. “He wanted us to be Jedi so I think so.” She paused. “And even if he’s not. The Jedi are still bad. They killed Mandalorians. They might hurt your sister.” 

“Satine’s not a child!” So she wouldn’t get hurt. Right? She wouldn’t? But Bo knew that other people were after her too. She might not be safe like Bo. 

Bo dug her nails into her skin deep enough that she felt warm blood under her nails eventually. She didn’t wince. 

“They still might want to hurt her,” Lottie said. 

No! No! No! Bo shoved Lottie off her bed. She didn’t want to hear this. 

Lottie stood up and looked at her. Wounded. They played fought all the time, but this was different. Bo didn’t care. Satine had to be okay and Lottie needed to stop telling stupid and horrible lies.

“My sister’s going to be fine! She will be!” 

Lottie put her hands up. Her lip wobbled. “I just… I just wanted to warn you.” 

Bo glared at her. 

“I’m sorry,” Lottie said. “But we can get ready. We can train so you can fight the Jedi and everyone. And I can train so that one day I can be like my uncle but not mean.” 

Bo didn’t want to hear about her stupid uncle. Lottie talked about him a lot. Sometimes it was like she admired him because he was such a good warrior and she liked his weapons. Other times she would say that he was mean and she didn’t like him. 

Bo decided she hated him, especially now that she had decided he must be a bad person who wanted to hurt Satine. 

“We need to train…” Bo said accepting Lottie’s apology. “So we can fight everyone.” 

Lottie nodded and went back over to her bed which she crawled in. 

“We’ll be the best Mandalorian warriors one day,” Lottie said, sleep was already in her voice. Soon her breathing became steady and Bo could tell she was sleeping. She even snored softly. 

Bo couldn’t sleep though. She clutched her blankets, pulling them close to her chin. All she could think about was Satine alone with those Jedi and that Demagol person. Maybe Lottie got things wrong. It could be. But what if she was right? 

That was all Bo could think about that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading and I apologize for any typos. Please comment or leave kudos. Comments are my life! I might die without them. Thank you all again!


	7. Chapter 7

The next day, Bo found Tia and Orie right away. They were in the kitchen sitting at the table picking at their breakfast. Tia smiled when she saw Bo and went over and hugged her. It was so strange having adults hug her. Usually only Satine did and while she was almost an adult, she wasn’t really one. Not to Bo. 

“Are you okay, ad’ika?” Tia asked as she put let go of Bo, but then pushed her hair back. It was also weird when she called her ad’ika because her own mom didn’t do that much. “You look tired. Maybe you should go back to sleep.” She put her hand on Bo’s forehead as if she was trying to see if Bo had a fever. 

Bo shook her head. “Do the Jedi kill us still?” 

Tia and Orie exchanged looks and then his eyes widened. “Where did that come from, Bo?” 

“I just want to know.” 

“Bo—” 

Bo stomped her foot, even though she felt bad after. Tia and Orie liked her and she didn’t want them to change their mind and get rid of her. Unless they sent her to be with Satine. That would be good, even if it would also be scary. 

Tia sighed. “You don’t need to worry about the Jedi.” 

“Yes, we haven’t been at war with them for awhile and we’d protect you from them anyway.” Orie gave her a tired looking smile. 

“But are they bad? Would they hurt someone?” 

“Bo, why are you asking about the Jedi?” Tia asked. She knelt down to Bo’s level. “Is everything okay?” 

She wasn’t going to tell them what Lottie said because then they would have to know about Satine and she wouldn’t tell anyone about Satine again. It wasn’t her fault that she had been talking in her sleep. What was wrong with her? 

“I just… are they bad?” Bo asked. 

“It depends on the Jedi,” Tia said, which wasn’t what Bo wanted to hear. She wanted to know if they were bad or good. “Some are good and some are bad. Just like Mandalorians.” Great… Just great…

“No!” Bo wanted a better answer than that. 

“Ad’ika, it really does depend on the Jedi,” Tia said while Orie nodded. Even though she wasn’t really their daughter, they would call her this. She didn’t mind. “But you don’t need to worry about them. Like Orie said, we’d protect you from them. You’re safe here anyway. There are no Jedi.” 

Bo pouted. 

“Do you want some breakfast, ad’ika?” Orie asked. “You might feel better after eating something.” 

“I’m fine,” Bo said, making a face, but she let Tia lead her to the table and put some eggs on her plate. Bo didn’t like eggs super much, but she picked at them. She wasn’t all that hungry at all. All she could think about was that horrible nightmare and what Lottie had said. What if Lottie was right? What if Bo’s mom had made a horrible mistake sending Satine to be with the Jedi? 

What if Satine… died? 

“I… I want to learn to fight,” Bo said. She had told her mom this millions of millions of billions of times. More times than there were stars in the galaxy. Her mom always scolded her and told her that she wouldn’t, not ever. 

“You are learning to fight in a way,” Tia said. “When you play with Lottie with the toy blasters and—” 

“I want to do more than that!” Bo sighed and picked at the eggs. 

Tia and Orie exchanged looks and then she nodded. “Maybe we should teach you and Lottie to fire blasters.” 

Bo stared at them, wondering if this was some kind of trick. Even when she told Satine things like this, Satine would just ruffle her hair and say she was too young. “Really?” 

“Yes, but you need to know that blasters aren’t toys, Bo-Katan. They’re dangerous.” 

Bo jumped up. “I know. Thank you so much. Thank you!” She paused, almost wanting to hug Tia herself. Tia was always the one who hugged her and not vice versa. 

“You just need to do what we say when we teach you.” 

“I promise. I will!”

Lottie came in a few minutes later and she was also excited. She jumped up and down and hugged Tia and Orie and spoke about how she was going to be the best shot and was going to one day kill Jedi even if she had to. 

“You’re not going to need to kill anyone for a long time. Maybe never,” Tia said. 

This caused Lottie to roll her eyes like sometimes Satine did when she thought their mom wasn’t watching. Satine didn’t do it much because she was Satine. Bo liked when she did. 

Later that day, Tia and Orie took them out into the forest to shoot blasters. Bo’s heart beat hard in her chest and she couldn’t help but smile wide. She had been wanting to do this since she knew what a blaster was. When she closed her eyes, she could see herself wearing Mandalorian armor and fighting. She could see it perfectly. 

When they got to a clearing, Tia and Orie told them how to fire and even set up some targets. Bo couldn’t wait. She wanted to try herself so bad. It seemed like they were talking forever. They told all sorts of safety things and what they should never do. Bo picked at her nails, but she tried to pay attention. Lottie kept bouncing from one foot to another. 

Finally after what felt like hours but was probably only like twenty minutes, they were allowed to actually shoot them. The blaster was heavier than Bo thought it would be. It was nothing like the toy ones she was used to playing with. 

And Bo just knew that it was different. This was a real blaster. One that could change everything. And shooting it was even different. Even though she had gloves on she could feel the warmth. 

Bo looked at the target. She just expected that she would be good at this right away. After all she had wanted this forever. But she missed. 

“That was good, Bo.” Tia put her hand on her shoulder. 

“But I didn’t hit it,” Bo sighed. 

“You just need to practice. You’ll be good at this. I can already tell that you’re going to have a gift.” She smiled at Bo. “But you need to practice. Everyone does if they truly want to excel at something.” 

Bo wasn’t entirely sure what excel meant but she nodded. 

They kept shooting and eventually Bo hit a target. She grinned and looked at the adults and Lottie. “I did it.” 

“What?!” Lottie asked, narrowing her eyes. “But that’s not fair. I haven’t hit it yet.” Lottie had missed way worse than Bo. She did manage to hit a tree a few times and it had clearly seen better days.

“You can try again, Lottie,” Orie said. 

And Lottie did just that. And missed again. 

“This is… This is annoying.” She threw the blaster on the ground and a shot rang out. Lottie then let out a cry. Tia gripped Bo and pulled her close to her chest. 

But no one was hit. 

“Lottie, you can’t do things like that,” Orie yelled. Bo had never heard him yell before and stepped away from Tia. It didn’t even sound normal. He and Tia were both so calm. “What if someone got hit? What if someone got killed?”

Lottie stared up at him and then tears dotted her eyes. “But it’s… It’s not fair…” 

“We told you the rules,” Tia said. She sighed and shook her head. “We need to go home now.” 

“But… I won’t do it again!” Lottie said, her eyes huge. She wiped at her eyes. “I won’t do it again.” 

“And I didn’t do anything wrong!” It wasn’t fair that they should both get punished for what Lottie did, but nothing either of them said would change their minds so they had to go back. It really wasn’t fair. Bo had been good and now she couldn’t shoot anymore. Maybe they wouldn’t let them do it again soon because of Lottie. 

*** 

Lottie wasn’t allowed to shoot blasters for awhile, but Bo was, and that was what was the most important. She would go with Tia who was apparently better at it then Orie. And Bo knew that she was getting better. One day she would be an ace shot. That was what Tia said and she believed her. 

Eventually Lottie got to go again. Bo made sure she did the best she could around her, even though that made Lottie give her looks. It didn’t matter. She liked being best at something. Back home, Satine was better at everything than her since she was older. 

Here she could be better at something. It was nice. 

The months flew by and it got even colder, not that it stopped Bo and Lottie from still playing outside, even when they couldn’t feel their toes and their fingers when they were done. The cold was almost starting to seem normal and the warmth of Mandalore more of a memory. 

After playing one day, the two of them came running inside the house. Bo kept touching her hair since Lottie had yanked a chunk of it out, not that she had gotten away with that. Bo had pushed her to the ground. 

“Girls, girls, you shouldn’t spend so much time outside,” Tia said as she came over to them. 

“We told you that you should come in earlier,” Orie said with a glint in his eyes. 

“But we were having fun,” Lottie said with a pout as Bo nodded. Besides, they would warm up. It would be fine. Bo almost liked the cold now. She liked making snow Mandalorians and snow angels and having snow fights. She even liked when the snow fell through the air almost like an elegant dance. 

Once Bo even tried to draw it, but she was no good at drawing so she gave up. 

“Girls, we have an announcement,” Orie said. 

An announcement? Had they heard something about Satine? Was Bo going to get to go home soon? No, that couldn’t be it, right? That wouldn’t be directed to Lottie, just Bo. But it was both, but maybe Bo was wrong. 

Tia tsked and looked at Orie. “I’m still not sure about it.” 

“It’ll be good for the girls to have some fun. They’re stuck here all the time.” 

Bo titled her head to the side. 

“And it’ll be fine,” Orie continued. 

“What’s going on?" Bo asked. She wanted to believe they would say that she would get visit Satine. She didn’t know how that would work because she didn’t know where Satine was. Maybe, she was here and not on Mandalore anymore. 

“There is going to be a small festival on Mandalore and Orie is going to take you two,” she said with a sigh. She looked at Bo and then at Lottie. “But you don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” 

Bo bit her lip. It sounded so fun. A festival. She had never been to one because of the war, but she had heard of them. Satine had told her stories about when she had gone when she been a little girl. Both their parents had been alive then and she talked about it like it had been the best thing. 

This could be her chance. 

“I want to go! I want to go!” Lottie whined, jumping up and down. She grabbed Bo’s hands, but Bo pulled away. “Don’t you want to go, Bo Bo?” 

Only Lottie called her Bo Bo.

“I want to,” Bo said. It would be fun just like Satine said after all. It would be great just like Satine said and she could tell her stories about it when she went back home. 

Tia sighed, but she didn’t say anything else about them not going. And in a few days, Bo found herself in a small town with Lottie and Orie. The whole town had been decorated for a little fair. It had all sorts of stands full of tasty desserts that had smells that floated in the air. Bo wanted to try them all. There was also a hologram playing and music in the air. It sounded like music that Satine would like and that made Bo smile. Somehow the whole air felt warmer, even though it was just as cold today as it always was. 

Right away Orie got Bo and Lottie some fried food. It was so good. Almost as good as the macaroons Bo liked. He got something with some fried seafood, but it didn’t look nearly as good. It looked weird and Bo made a face, which caused Lottie to giggle. They had gotten to rides too. Bo loved all of them. The faster and taller the better. She liked the spinning ones, even though Lottie complained about them. 

Eventually Orie saw someone he knew and grabbed the girls over. The two adults kept talking about boring adult stuff. Politics blah blah blah especially since they didn’t mention Satine. The economy blah blah blah. And then the weather which was always cold. 

“This is boring,” Bo muttered. She looked at one of the rides that some of the other kids were on. She grabbed Orie’s hand for a moment but then let go.

“Let’s do something fun,” Lottie said. “I heard some other kids say there was something cool around here.” 

Bo frowned. Lottie had been with her and Orie the whole time. Actually, that wasn’t true. Orie had let her run off to the refresher on her own earlier after she had complained that she didn’t want to go with Bo and that she would be fine. It had taken awhile, but Bo hadn’t cared because she had gotten to ride a fun spinning ride that had gone round and round. She had almost wanted to puke but in the best way. 

“But…” Bo said. 

“It’ll be fun,” Lottie said. “There are some old ships around here.” 

Bo thought about it. Orie had told them that they needed to stay with him, but he was being boring right now and she wanted to have fun. They would be back soon. It would be okay. So Bo ran off after Lottie. Going to see a ship made Bo think about the future. Maybe one day she could have her own ship and fly all over the galaxy. She could visit all the planets in the Mandalore system and even more than that. 

Soon Lottie led them away from the crowds. It took awhile to get there. Longer than Bo wanted. If they left, she wouldn’t be able to go on more of the fun rides. She wanted to ride the spinning ones more. She wanted Lottie to go and she would spin them so much. 

Lottie wouldn’t like that, but Bo still wanted to do it. 

They finally got to the place with the abandoned ships. There were a lot of them. Some of them looked like they never should have been able to get through the air, while others looked fine to Bo. Some were small and some were bigger than the place she lived with Lottie, Orie, and Tia. 

“Look at all of this,” Lottie said, spinning around. Her blond hair flew after her. It was so long. Really Bo should grab her hair next time they fought. Bo’s was only a little past her shoulder while Lottie’s was almost at her butt. It would be easy to grab. 

“This isn’t as fun as rides,” Bo said, touching her red hair. “ I want to go back to the fair. I want to ride the spinning rides.” And the tall and the fast ones. She wanted to go on them all.

“But we could fly on one of these,” Lottie said. “We could travel back to Mandalore.” Lottie had never said she was from Mandalore too and not from one of the other ones in the system. “Don’t you want to visit your sister?” 

Bo froze. She hadn’t talked to her about Satine since that night months ago. Sometimes, she thought Lottie had forgotten. But this just proved that she hadn’t. Bo remembered how her mom had told her not to tell anyone about Satine and the Jedi, and Bo had failed. Lottie was her friend, but her family sounded like they wouldn’t like Satine and what if one day she told them about Satine?

Then Satine could get hurt and it would be Bo’s fault.

“It’ll be fun,” Lottie said. “Come on.” She reached out and took Bo’s hands. 

“But I want to ride the rides,” Bo said with a pout. 

Lottie gave her a look. “We’re just going to stay here awhile. I just want to look around, please, Bo Bo.” 

Bo paused. “But then we need to go back and ride all the rides. Even the spinning ones.”

Lottie rolled her eyes. “Fine, but those rides aren’t fun.” 

“Yes, they are.” Bo tried to perfect both Lottie and Satine’s eye roll. She hadn’t done that much at home because once she had around her mom and she had been mad. It wasn’t fair since Satine did it sometimes too. 

Lottie sighed and walked away. Bo followed behind her. There were a lot of ships, but they weren’t that great. The rides were better, but at least they could go back after this. Bo better not get in trouble for Lottie’s idea. 

They were getting close to one ship that was in better shape than most and was painted a bright orange color when Lottie stopped. “Look at this.” Lottie pointed to the side. There was a giant hole there. The two of them went over to it. “I wonder why this is here.” 

“Who cares?” Bo bounced on the heals of her feet. She wanted to go back to the fair and ride the rides. If they even were allowed to now. Orie might be mad at them.

“Don’t you want to fly through the galaxy?” Lottie asked. 

Everyone wanted that but then there was an explosion. A loud banging noise. Bo let out a cry. It was like she was back at her house when it was attacked. She hadn’t known what would happen. All she knew was they were after her and her family and especially Satine, even then. 

Bo gripped Lottie’s arm. She would have to do something. Something for both of them. So they could get away.

She didn’t get a chance. 

One of them stumbled back and ran into the other. Bo didn’t know if it was her or Lottie. It didn’t matter. 

Both of them fell into the hole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed this. I actually already have the next chapter finished and I will probably be posting it in a couple days. Maybe even tomorrow depending on how things go. That chapter is going to have a character you all might be familiar with. 
> 
> Please comment and leave kudos. Thank you again and I apologize if there are any typos that I missed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to post this early as a treat.

Bo landed on the ground. Pain shot through her arm instantly and she let out a cry. Her arm was throbbing. It hurt instantly. She bit her lip, wanting to scream. But she had felt worse. She had gone through worse. 

Then Lottie screamed. A horrible scream. Something was wrong. Really wrong. Bo forced herself to sit up. Lottie was next to her. And there was something wrong. Something really wrong. Her arm was at a weird angle. Bo didn’t even know how it was possible. Bo shuddered. 

“Lottie…” she asked in a small voice. She crawled over to her. “Your arm…” 

Lottie just screamed in response and tried to grab it. It had to be broken or something, right? That was what happened when arms looked like that? Bo didn’t know. She didn’t know what to do. 

She had to do something, right? 

Bo looked at Lottie. “I’m… I’m… gonna get help.” 

That was what she would do. That was the right thing? Yes, it was. It had to be. But the hole was so high. How was she going to get up there? Still, she had to try. She had to do it. They were far away. What if no one found them? Lottie was hurt and it was cold and it would snow. And eventually…

But she would get them out. 

She looked up. It looked even higher than before, but maybe she could jump. Bo ran a few steps and jumped. She hit the wall and tried to dig her fingers into the dirt and ice. She ignored the pain that hit her arm. She tried to grab on.

It didn’t work. 

She fell back down, landing on her butt. But she was okay. She had to try again. And she did a couple more times. It didn’t make a difference. She kept falling. They were stuck here. 

Lottie was crying now in the background. 

“You… You have to get up there,” Lottie said. It was hard to understand her. She kept gulping and crying harder. “You have to! You have to!” 

“Lottie…” Bo wanted to do something to make her feel better. Some people were good at that. It would be good to be able to do that. But she couldn’t think of anything to say.

And part of Bo wanted to cry now too, even though it wasn’t good to cry. She should be strong. Still, she wanted to. And she wished that Satine or Tia or Orie were here to help her. 

“You have to… You need to…” Lottie said again. Her cries were less hard now. 

Bo would try again. She looked up again and saw something she hadn’t noticed before. There were a few things that looked like roots in the wall. Maybe she could grab them. It would be like climbing a tree. 

But the first time she tried, she failed. This… It wasn’t going to work. It wasn’t! But then she looked at Lottie. 

She had to try again. 

She tried to push herself to run as fast as her legs would carry her. She had to jump at the perfect time too. She felt herself fly through the air. She reached her arms up, hoping to grab the roots. And then she did. 

She did. 

She gripped it tightly and then tried to grab the next one. It was hard and she could feel it loosening. It would break soon and then she would fall. She let go of one of the roots and tried to grab a rock. At first, she couldn’t get a good grip and her hand slipped. 

Then she did. 

And somehow, she made it to the top. Relief flowed through Bo when she reached it. She grasped at the snow so happy that she was finally back up. Now she had to get out of here. She had to find Orie or some help. 

She ran, pushing her legs as far as she could. She just had to get back into town. And she could hear the festival. She was getting closer. 

Then she collided into someone. 

Bo fell down, landing in the snow. Her eyes blurred at first because of the pain. She looked up and saw a girl probably between her and Satine’s age, so maybe about eleven or twelve or something. She could even be thirteen. Bo didn’t know. Big kid ages were hard to guess. She had dark hair that was styled in a braid of top of her head. She also had a yellow clip in her hair. The girl’s dark eyes widened and she went over to Bo.

“Are you okay?” the girl said. She offered Bo her hand. Bo froze, not sure what to do at first. “What’s wrong?” 

“I… I… I need help.” Even now Bo was reluctant to talk to her. She had been told not to say much to strangers. Her mom wouldn’t want her to. Tia and Orie wouldn’t even want her to say much. She could say something wrong. 

But Lottie…

The girl still hadn’t moved and only now did Bo notice that she wasn’t alone. There were some other teenage girls with her, but they were just staring at Bo, not saying anything. 

“I can help you,” the girl said. “What’s your name? Mine is Ursa.” 

Bo finally took her hand and let her pull her up. Her hand was somehow warm, even though she didn’t have mittens or gloves on. 

“I’m Bo.” She thought about saying more, but stopped herself. She had to be good. 

Ursa nodded. 

“My friend… my friend got hurt. I need help,” Bo said. She bit her lip hard enough that she felt blood, but she didn’t care. 

Ursa nodded. “We’ll help. We’ll help you and your friend.”

*** 

Bo went back to the abandoned shipyard with Ursa while her friends went to find Orie. Apparently a couple of them had met him before. Bo and Ursa found Lottie, who wasn’t crying anymore, only sniffling.

“I got help, Lottie,” Bo called down to her. “I brought someone and her friends are going to get more help.”

“My arm hurts,” Lottie cried. 

“Someone will be here soon, and we’re going to be here the whole time too,” Ursa said. “Everything’s going to be okay. I promise.” 

Bo wished that she could think of something nice to say, but she still struggled to do even that, so she just nodded. She wasn’t sure that Lottie could even see her. 

“Your friend said your name is Lottie. That’s a pretty name,” Ursa said probably trying to distract her. “My name is Ursa Wren.”

Ursa Wren… Wren… Bo had heard that before, but she didn’t remember when. It made her stomach twist though. What if Bo had done something wrong? But she wasn’t going to talk about her family. She would be good. 

Still…

Bo buried her face in her hands and she just listened when Ursa tried to make Lottie feel better. She didn’t say anything when Ursa tried to talk to her. At least not at first. 

“I promise that she’s going to be okay,” Ursa whispered, looking at Bo. “She might have just broken her arm, but that’s okay. I’ve broken mine a few times. It’s not a big deal.” 

She must have thought that was the only reason Bo was upset so Bo just nodded. Luckily soon Ursa’s friends and Orie showed up. Orie hurried over and hugged Bo. He then said similar things to Bo and Lottie about how everything was going to be okay. 

Bo couldn’t help but believe them. 

**

Lottie’s arm was broken, but she was going to be fine. Apparently it wasn’t that bad. She didn’t even have to go into a bacta tank Bo had wondered what it would be like if it was bad and Ursa had told her that she heard a story of someone whose bone broke through their skin. Wow…

Ursa told them she had to leave soon after that. 

“Thank you for helping Bo and Lottie,” Orie said. He didn’t seem to be worried at all about her being a Wren. 

Ursa nodded and smiled at Bo. “Maybe I’ll see you again, Bo.” 

Bo doubted it, but she thought she might like Ursa, but she didn’t know because she wasn’t supposed to be around Wrens. Right? But she wasn’t sure. Bo was so confused and it was hard to remember everything. She wouldn’t see her again anyway because she was a big kid and big kids didn’t like little kids. 

Still when she left Orie smiled. “Lady Ursa’s a sweet girl, isn’t she?” Orie said. “I’m glad that she helped you and Lottie.” 

Bo shrugged. 

They left after that. Bo couldn’t help but worry that she did something horribly wrong. Lottie was still hurt too. Lottie whimpered in the night. Bo offered to tell her stories, but Lottie didn’t want to. Eventually Lottie was given something to sleep and she passed out. Bo wished that she could have too.

*** 

The next few months wasn’t as much fun, even when Lottie’s arm got better. She was more worried about play fighting and climbing so Bo had to do a lot of it by herself. Orie and Tia were also having Bo and Lottie study more too. They said things about how the war should hopefully be over soon and that the girls would probably get to go back to school. 

Bo wondered if her mom would send her to the school Satine used to go to or if Bo was still too little. She was too old for the little kid school she had gone to before now that she was five. 

Tia’s birthday was coming up so today Bo and Lottie were trying to draw things for her. Lottie was actually pretty good at it, but Bo still wasn’t. It was annoying. She was trying to draw a spaceship for Tia since she liked flying, but it didn’t look like a ship at all. Where as Lottie was drawing a lake and it was perfect.

There was a knock at the door and Orie went to get it. Bo kept staring at her picture and then tried to fix it. She had to be able to, right? 

Orie came back into the room with Ursa and Bo dropped her colored pencil. What did this mean? Why was she here? Bo hadn’t actually thought she would ever see her again. What if she was here because she found out something she wasn’t supposed to? Bo’s stomach fell. 

“Ursa wanted to see how you both were doing,” Orie said as if it was nothing.

Ursa nodded. “And my mom and I were in this town and she said I could come over.” She had a basket which she put on the table. “I have cookies. My dad made them.” 

Bo stared at them. They smelled good, but for some reason today, she kept thinking about her mom. Maybe it was because she had a dream about her last night. Her mom wouldn’t want her to eat these cookies. 

Lottie wasn’t worried and grabbed one and shoved it in her mouth. When Lottie didn’t die, Bo did as well. It was tasty and had a sour taste, but in a good way. It was both sweet and sour. Bo ate another one. Ursa also took one and sat next to the two of them.

“You’re painting,” she said, looking at their pictures. 

“Lottie’s really good,” Bo said, trying to fix hers. She failed. If anything, she made it look even worse than before. Why was this so hard? 

“I’m not,” Ursa said, but she sat next to them and started to work on her own. “People who are good at art are lucky. They’re so talented.” 

Bo shrugged, but she agreed with Ursa. After about ten minutes, she leaned over and looked at Ursa’s drawing. It was really bad. Bo didn’t know what it was supposed to be. Maybe a ship or maybe it was an animal. She really didn’t know.

Ursa saw her looking at her and raised an eyebrow. “Told you.” 

Bo was about to answer when Tia came running in. Her face was red, but her eyes were lit up. With happiness? 

“What’s going on?” Orie asked. 

“The war!” Tia exclaimed.

“What about it?” 

She ran into his arms. “The war’s is over.” 

The war was over. The war was over. At first that didn’t even make sense to Bo. 

“The New Mandalorians won. The war is over. I mean politicians will still have more negotiations, but it’s over.” 

Bo couldn’t even more. The New Mandalorians. That was Satine’s group, right? They had won. The war was over. That meant Satine would get to go home. That meant Bo would get to go home. 

Ursa’s face was pale and she was clutching her hands together tightly. Her face didn’t show any emotion so Bo had no idea what she was thinking. Lottie wasn’t the same. She let out a choking noise and jumped out of her chair, causing it to fall to the ground. She ran out of the room. Orie and Tia exchanged looks but then Tia ran after her. 

“Bo, are you okay?” Orie asked. 

Bo paused but then she nodded. The war was over. She would be able to see Satine again. Everything would be wonderful.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Please leave comments. Every comment makes me smile!


	9. Chapter 9

Things didn’t change right away. For the next week, everything remained the same. It was as if the war was still going on. Bo and Lottie did go to town more with Tia and Orie, but Bo still didn’t talk much. She didn’t tell anyone Satine was her sister even when she heard people mention her.

Then after a couple weeks, someone came for Lottie. When Tia saw the person outside their window, her face drained of color. She went over to Bo and put her hands on her shoulders.

“Bo, I need you to go in Orie and my room.” Her voice was calm but there was an edge to it that Bo hadn’t heard before. The war was over, but could she be in danger now? “Everything’s going to be okay but just trust me on this.” 

“Are they—” 

“Everything’s going to be fine,” Tia said calmly. She leaned over and kissed Bo on the forehead. “Trust me on this, ad’ika. Everything will be fine.” 

Bo paused, but then nodded. Tia didn’t let Bo say anything else and gently pushed her toward her and her husband’s room. Bo didn’t wait and ran off. What was going on? Lottie was related to bad people who wanted to hurt Satine after all. Obviously, they wanted to hurt her too? What would they do if they caught Bo? 

What would Bo’s family do? Would Satine care even? She was probably going to be busy with duchess things. Whatever duchesses did? Bo didn’t know. It was probably boring, but that wasn’t the point. What if she was too busy with that to do anything about her? 

Bo would have to get away on her own but what if…

Lottie let out a cry of happiness in the background. She was glad to see these people, even though they were bad. Bo scowled and kicked at the ground. It made a small noise, but it wasn’t like they would be able to hear, not with Lottie making all those noises. 

How did her people even know she was here? They weren’t supposed to, right? Bo didn’t think her family knew where she was? And Lottie’s family weren’t on the same side so they couldn’t unless they had been told later, but they might still do things weren’t supposed to. 

And if they knew then why didn’t Satine come see Bo? Shouldn’t she have come and taken her back? Her mother should have too? Bo even missed her, even though she was not as nice as Satine. Bo still missed her.

Eventually Lottie stopped making happy noises and things were quiet. 

Then there were footsteps coming nearby. Bo froze for a moment. Just a moment, then she realized she had to do something. Hide. Or maybe fight. But she didn’t have anything to fight with, right? And then she saw a staff. It looked like it might even be made out of besker. Bo didn’t have experience with swords or staffs yet, but she grabbed it. 

She had played sabers and sword with Lottie, and she was good at that. 

Bo gripped the staff tighter, enough that the knuckles of her palms went white. 

The door opened and Bo swung the staff, knowing that she would hit them and then… she didn’t know what she would do, but she would do something.

But it was Lottie. She let out a cry and ducked barely managing not to get hit. “Why would you do that?” Lottie put her hands on her hips and glared at her. Wasn’t it obvious? Lottie’s friends had to be the people in the group that hated Satine and that meant they hated Bo.

Maybe they’d try to kidnap her, but Bo wouldn’t just let them do it. 

“Your—” 

Lottie shook her head and didn’t let her finish. “We aren’t going to do anything to you. They don’t even know you’re here, but they wouldn’t do anything.” 

Bo clutched the staff tighter, but she lowered it. She trusted Lottie, but not the people she was with. Lottie had been weird recently. She was sad about how the war ended, which just showed that she wasn’t on Satine’s side. 

Which meant she wasn’t on Bo’s. 

Lottie sighed and rolled her eyes. “Stop being crazy. I’m not your aru'e.” 

Bo stared at her, but then lowered the staff. She wasn’t her enemy, but her family might be so she was going to keep it near. She was better at Lottie at fighting. At least Bo thought she was. 

“I have to go now. And I… I’m going to miss you. You’re like a vod to me.” 

Bo paused and then nodded. She had been like a sister to her, but different than Satine. And she would miss her. They had been the best of friends for over a year, playing together constantly. They fought also, but still. Was Bo even going to get to see her again? 

“I… I’m going to miss you,” Bo said, biting her lip as she looked at the floor.

Lottie went over and pulled her into a hug. Somehow, she smelled like the macaroon cookies that she liked so much. What if this was the last time she saw her? She didn’t even know Lottie’s real last name. She didn’t know where she lived or anything. Just that she was Lottie and that her family weren’t good like hers. 

Right? 

At least some of them weren’t. 

Lottie pulled away and smiled. “I’m sure you’ll see your family again soon, too. Even your sister. What was her name? Sabine?” 

Bo was about to correct her, but she stopped herself. It was better this way. So she stayed quiet. But she did hug Lottie one last time. “I… I… We might not see each other—” 

Lottie laughed and broke away. “Yeah, we will.” 

“How do you know?” Bo asked. 

“I just do,” Lottie said.

Tia came in after that and made her leave. She even lectured Lottie for a moment and said that she can’t tell her family. That just showed that Lottie’s family wasn’t good, right? It was still strange they would be together then. 

But Lottie had still been her friend, and she would miss her. She hoped that she did see her again. 

***

Bo didn’t get to go home right away. She thought she would get sent back almost right after Lottie was, but no. Three weeks had gone by and she was still here. It was different with Lottie gone though. Bo now had to play by herself or with the adults and adults were never as much fun. Tia and Orie seemed less worried now that the war was over too. She actually got to go to town more with them and got to play with more of the nearby kids. Still Bo was careful. 

Once when Tia and Orie had taken Bo into town, Bo had noticed a hologram playing. It was just the news which was one of the most boring things in the galaxy. Yawn. At least Bo thought it was all boring, but then it changed. It showed her sister. Bo couldn’t move. At first she couldn’t even breathe. All she could do was stare. 

Her sister was back home. Her sister was okay. Bo took a step closer. She wanted to get closer to the hologram. Then maybe she could hear her sister’s voice. 

But before she could, Tia grabbed her and scooped her up. Bo let out a cry and tried to squirm away. This wasn’t fair. She wanted to see better and hear what her sister had said. Before she could get away the clip ended. Bo let out a cry and then stomped her foot. 

“Not fair! I want—” 

“Shh,” Tia said, which drove Bo crazy. She hated when adults or anyone told her to be quiet. “I know you’re angry, but you don’t want to draw attention to yourself.” 

Bo didn’t want to hear this. She just wanted to see. 

“Bo, I mean it. You don’t want to draw attention. Do you think that’s what your sister would like?” Tia whispered, which made Bo stop, but she still tried to kick her in the shin, which just caused Tia to shake her head. “You’ll see your sister soon anyway.” 

Bo didn’t like this. She should have been able to see her sister, even if she was probably just giving a stupid political speech. 

When they got back home, Tia explained that she just didn’t want her to call attention by reacting too much. 

“You probably should have just let her hear it,” Orie said. “She probably reacted more by you not letting her.” 

“Why can’t I go home now?” Bo asked, not letting them even finish. She put her hands on her hips and tried to look as tall as possible. “If my sister is home then I should be able to go home too.” Before the war ended, she hadn’t talked about her sister much here, but now that it had ended and Lottie was gone, she did speak about her and her mom when no one else was here. And usually no one else came. 

“You’re going to get to go home soon,” Tia said. “You’ll get to see your family again really soon.” She reached out a touched a strand of Bo’s red hair. “I promise.” 

Bo pouted. This wasn’t enough, but no matter what she said, they didn’t tell her more. Maybe they didn’t know. 

“Do my mom and sister not want me?” Bo asked. Maybe that was what it was really. Her mom never seemed to like her that much, and maybe things were easier with her gone. 

Tia knelt down. “Of course, they want you. I’m sure they can’t wait for you to come back.” 

“Then why am I not back?” 

Tia put her hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure they have their reasons, and that you’ll get to go back to them soon.” 

Bo doubted it, but it turned out Tia was right. Two days later Shay showed up in a land speeder again, as if she had only been gone for a few days and not over a year. Bo had been packing and unpacking since Lottie showed up, but she was still surprised when it happened. 

“Bo-Katan, are you ready to go back home?” 

Bo stared at her. “I…” She nodded, but then turned and looked at Tia and Orie. She should be completely happy. She had wanted to go back home, but this meant she wouldn’t see Tia or Orie anymore. They had been like parents to her 

“You’ll see us again, ad’ika,” Tia said as she pulled her into a hug and then kissed her forehead as Orie left to get Bo’s luggage. “I promise you’ll see us again.” 

Bo hugged her back. “I… I… Promise?” 

“Yes, I do,” Tia said. “You’re going to be okay. Everything is going to be better. Your family misses you.” 

“I’m… I’m going to miss you two,” Bo said. She wiped at her eyes, but she wasn’t going to let herself cry. She couldn’t. She was a Mandalorian and Mandalorians and warriors didn’t cry, right? She had to be strong. 

“We’re going to miss you, ad’ika,” Orie said as he came back in with Bo’s luggage. He let go of it and then hugged Bo. 

Tia nodded. “But you’ll be brave. Remember though if you ever need us, we’ll be there for you. Aliit ori'shya tal'din.” Family is more than blood. 

Bo was about to say something, but then Shay put her hand on her shoulder. “We need to get going. Your mother wants you home soon. She misses you.” 

Bo looked up. “Really?” 

“Of course. She’s your mother,” Shay said. “She missed both of you girls so much when you were gone. Did you know that Satine’s already back? She misses you too.”

Bo was about to say something about how she already knew that Satine was back and she didn’t know why she hadn’t been brought back earlier, but she didn’t get a chance because then Tia and Orie hugged her again. She barely got to say good bye to them after that before Shay pulled her and her luggage toward the speeder. 

“Shay—” Bo tried to say, but Shay picked her up and put her in the speeder. Why was she rushing her? Couldn’t her mom wait a little bit? Shay didn’t have to hurry to get her back. Her mom should have to wait for once then she would know how Bo felt. She probably wanted more time alone with Satine since that was her favorite daughter and the duchess.

Bo was just Bo. 

“Sorry for rushing you,” Shay said after they had been in the speeder for awhile. The wind was rushing through Bo’s hair causing it to get in her face. She kept having to push it away to try and look at everything. Everything looked the same as when she had been brought here, but now it was all familiar. Not the strange world with the weird white stuff.

Which Bo had learned to love. 

“I only made you hurry because it would have been harder for you to leave the longer you stayed,” Shay said. “

“I’m not laandur. I’m tough!” Bo didn’t like being treated like some delicate flower. 

“I know. I can tell. Your mom is always saying what a fighter you are. How you’re much more of a handful than your sisters.” 

Bo was about to say something about Satine being her mom’s favorite but then she realized that she had said sisters. “I only have one sister and that’s Satine.” 

Shay’s face paled for a moment, but then she sighed. “Yes, I know. I meant sister. My mistake.” 

Bo stared at her.

“Here. I brought you something,” Shay said managing to take out some candies and handing them to Bo. “Your sister wanted me to give you these.” 

“Candy!” Bo cried, grabbing it from her. And for a second that was enough to keep her occupied, but then she kept thinking to Orie and Tia. How she wouldn’t see them again. No, she would because they had promised. 

And what was her mom going to say when she saw her? And what would Satine do? Would they be happy to see her? Or maybe her mom would think it was easier without her. After all Shay said her mom said she was more of a handful than her sister. 

No, she hadn’t said sister. She said sisters. 

Sisters…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading. Please comment!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Vomiting. Not sure I needed to put this but thought it was better safe than sorry. Not everyone is weird like me and likes medical stuff. 
> 
> Anyway, I really should have waited to post this, but I'm super weak so here it is. I was excited to post this in a way, but I also feel bad that there haven't been much action recently. I'm sorry about that and hope the story is still going okay. I'm having fun writing it still.

Unlike when Bo had left Mandalore, she didn’t sleep this time. No, this time she was wide awake and had a ton of energy. Shay had said it wouldn’t take long to get there, but Bo was still so bored. She entertained herself by first looking around the ship and then running around it, trying to see how fast she could get from the front to the back. After that got boring, she turned cartwheel after cartwheel down the halls and then tried to do some back handsprings. She thought that Shay would lecture her about doing this, but she didn’t say anything. 

Well, she did say that her flips were good at one point. 

Her flips were better than good. Lottie and Bo had practiced them all the time. This made Bo try to impress Shay more, but even that got boring eventually. Instead, Bo played with one of her toy blasters that fired fake blasts. With that she tried to shoot parts of the ship. 

“You know, Bo-Katan. You definitely got mandokar.” Shay laughed when she said that and Bo just beamed in response before going back to play with her toy blaster. 

After what felt like forever, but apparently was just a couple hours, they could see Mandalore. Bo pressed her face against some of the glass of the ship so she could get the best look at it as possible. She had never imagined Mandalore looking like this. Its color was different than she imagined and it was so big. Larger than she had imagined. 

“You must be happy to be going back home,” Shay said.

Bo nodded. 

“Come over here and I can teach you a bit about piloting.” 

Bo grinned and ran over even though she doubted that she would actually let her do any flying. Still, she did get to learn things and she could imagine one day having her own ship. Maybe Lottie could even fly with her. They could go all over the Mandalore system and even other places. 

Shay landed perfectly, which Bo hoped that she would be able to do eventually too. Bo jumped up and bounced on the heels of her feet. 

“Is Satine going to be outside? Is she going to be outside?” Bo actually jumped up and down. She was so excited. She was tempted to run outside to just find out on her own, but then Shay grabbed her arm and she stopped bouncing. “I think they’re back at your home, but you’ll see them soon.” 

Bo pouted and pulled away from Shay. Since she wanted to prove that she wasn’t a child, she grabbed her bag and threw it on her back. She would carry it herself. Not that she had to carry it far since the land speeder was right outside.

“Can I drive it?” Bo asked, bouncing on her feet again. She already knew what the answer would be, but maybe she would be wrong. She hoped so. She wanted to go fast. It could be like the rides at the carnival, except better. “I’ll get us home soon.” 

“I’m sure you would, verd'ika, but your mother would kill me.” 

Bo pouted. 

“Don’t worry. We’ll be there soon.” 

Bo doubted they would be there soon enough, but Shay did drive fast. Better yet, when Bo yelled at her to drive even faster, she would let her. She was almost tempted to ask her again if she could drive or to see if she could convince her to go in circles. 

But just when Bo was convinced that she should ask that, she saw her house. Bo let out a cry of happiness. It had been so long. Some parts of her home looked like they had been touched by the war. There used to be some statues of their ancestors that Bo liked to climb on when her mother and Satine weren’t looking, but they had been destroyed. Part of the ground looked burnt as if there had been a fire there. 

Other things were exactly the same. The house actually looked like it had recently been painted. Bo’s old swing set was still there too, looking exactly the same. It had been Satine’s before Bo had been born. Now Bo was wondering why there had had always been two swings when before Bo had been born Satine had been an only child.

Right? 

Bo didn’t get to think more about it because then her mother ran out of the house and scooped Bo up. “My little Bo-Katan. You’re back.” Her mother actually kissed her on the forehead before placing her back on the ground. Bo didn’t wipe it off until she was sure her mom wasn’t looking. 

Bo paused and then hugged her mother again. 

“You’ve grown so much, Bo-Katan.” Her mother smiled. “Soon you’re going to be taller than me. Well not too soon, but eventually.” 

Satine was taller than her so that wasn’t surprising. Bo wanted to be taller than Satine also. 

“I made you something, Mama!” Bo said. She threw her back off her shoulder and pulled out a picture she drew. It actually had been one for Satine, but she had made a lot of things for Satine. It was a picture of the four of them with jetpacks and wearing beskar. They were all happy. 

“Aww, how sweet,” Shay said.

Bo’s mom took the drawing and looked at it. “Yes, sweet.” She ruffled Bo’s hair. “You definitely aren’t going to grow up to be an artist.” 

Bo frowned, not sure what to think about that. Yes, she wasn’t that good, but the ones she kept had been her better ones. Ursa had even told her that it was one of the best ones. 

Her mother glanced up at Shay. “But I love it, Bo-Katan. It’s so beautiful.” Her voice sounded weird, but maybe that was how she sounded now. Still Bo stayed quiet. “Thank you so much, Shay, for bringing Bo-Katan back. I’m so grateful and so is my daughter, Satine, the duchess of Mandalore.” 

Shay tilted her head to the side. 

“Mama, where is Satine?” Bo asked. Satine had been the one she had dreamed of seeing. Her big sister. The person who she looked up to the most. Bo hoped she had missed her as much as Bo had missed her. 

“Ad’ika, your sister is the duchess of Mandalore.” She had just told Shay that. “She is very busy.” 

Bo’s lip trembled. “Too busy to see me?” She knew that Satine was busy. Even before she had been made duchess she had always been involved in politics and even before that she was still a lot older. Bo still thought she would want to see her. She always said how much she loved her.

But she wasn’t here even though had wanted to see her so much. 

“Ad’ika, she doesn’t know you’re coming home today. It’s going to be a special surprise for her.” 

And that was all it took for Bo to feel a lot better. She grinned and hugged her mom and then Shay. Satine would be happy to see her. 

“Shay, you’re a lifesaver. Aliit ori'shya tal'din. You show that every day,” Bo’s mom said. She went over and pulled Shay into a hug, leaving Bo standing there. 

“You’re so sweet,” Shay said. 

“Mama!” Bo said, tired of this. “I want to see Satine!” She didn’t want to wait around as her mom and her friend had boring grown up talk.

Bo’s mom sighed but she and Shay didn’t talk much longer. Bo’s mom then grabbed Bo’s hand and took her inside. Much like the outside, the inside looked different but also not. It looked like her mom had bought new stuff recently. 

“I want to see Satine,” Bo said again. 

“She might be bu—” 

“I want to see her!” Bo raised her voice and felt bad right away. She didn’t want her mom to not let her see her. 

“Bo-Katan, I’ll let you see your sister.” She knelt down. “But you need to be a good girl. Your sister is the duchess of Mandalore. Not just some random teenager now. You need to be respectful. You don’t want to embarrass your sister.” 

“You think… I’ll embarrass Satine?” Bo asked with wide eyes. Was she embarrassing? She wasn’t proper like Satine. She spoke about blasters and the Darksaber and candy. She didn’t talk about peace. She didn’t wear her dress perfectly. Whenever Bo wore a dress and hair like Satine, she itched and fidgeted. 

“I don’t want you to.” Her mother grabbed Bo’s hand. “Let’s take you upstairs and get you ready to see the Duchess of Mandalore.” 

“My sister…” 

“Yes, your sister the Duchess of the Mandalore System. She’s an important person.” 

Satine… Bo always knew Satine was important, but not because she was some ruler. She was important because of how she was. Bo had so many good memories of Satine. Once when Bo had been having horrible nightmares, Satine would let her sleep in her room and would read her stories about Mandalorian girls who became warriors. Once when an older kid, closer to Satine’s age than Bo’s, had tried to bully Bo, Satine had made him stop. And whenever Bo had been upset she had been there. She would braid her hair and comfort her, saying the most comforting words. 

Her personality was why she was important and not because she was a duchess. 

“You need to be a proper heiress and lady. Lady Bo-Katan Kryze.” 

Bo didn’t even know what to say about that, and she didn’t get a chance because her mother grabbed her hand and dragged her upstairs. Bo thought she would drag her to either her or Satine’s room, but instead she took her to what Bo thought was a guest room. But it had always been locked. 

Instead, it almost looked like Satine’s room. But not quite. It looked like a mix of Satine and Bo’s. Not a guest room. It had pictures of a band from forever ago all over. It also had some toy blasters which were partially buried by clothes, but Bo noticed them right away. Why hadn’t she been allowed to play with them? 

She had never even been allowed in this room before. Her mother had yelled at her when she had gotten too close. 

“I got a beautiful dress for you.” Her mother pushed Bo to the bed and then she pulled out a sky-blue dress with little owls on it. Bo liked it right away. Owls were cute and good. She liked them. “This! I know it will fit you. You’ll look like a proper Lady of Clan Kryze.” 

Bo didn’t like dresses, but she did what her mom wanted and put the dress on. She even let her mom mess with her hair and put an oversized bow on it. She tried to put an ugly hair thing like Satine’s on her hair, but no way. Bo drew the line there. Just no way. 

“Whose room is this?” Bo asked as her mom tried to adjust her bow and her hair in general. 

Bo’s mom froze. 

“It’s a kid room,” Bo said because it was obvious. 

Bo’s mom pulled on her hair. Bo let out a cry. “Don’t be silly, Bo-Katan. It’s just a guest room. Maybe Satine decorated it at one time. You know she fancied boys that looked like this for awhile.” 

But Bo saw the boys on the wall and they weren’t the kind that Satine fancied. She liked boys who were kind of gingery or had lighter brown or blond hair. Not ones with dark hair like this.

But her mother yanked her hair even harder so Bo didn’t get to ask more questions. It felt like she was trying to pull it out of her skull. 

“You have some scars.” Her mother trailed over one that she had gotten from playing with sticks. “I hope they weren’t—” 

“My friend Lottie gave me that. She hit me with a stick but I hit her in the face after.” Bo had won that. 

Her mother stared at her and then she laughed softly. Bo didn’t know if it was a happy laugh or not. “You really are a warrior. Like your father.” 

Bo was about to respond, but then her mother yanked at her hair, probably trying to fix it. It stopped Bo from responding. She tried to say things after, but her mother just hushed her and talked about boring things. Bo eventually gave up. She wanted her mom to like her now. She had to make sure that it wasn’t like before. 

Her mother looked at her and smiled. “You look so beautiful. And like your dad. A feminine version of your dad.” 

“Do you think Daddy would like me?” Bo asked, her voice breaking. She didn’t speak of her dad much. Yes, Satine would tell her stories about him, but that was all. She just liked when Satine spoke about him. She would always say how wonderful he was and how he would have adored Bo-Katan.

“Of course. You look like him and you’re a little warrior.” But her mother wasn’t looking at her and was staring off into space. 

The two of them went into the karyai after that, and Bo looked up at her mother who was still holding her picture. It now had some wrinkles in it. 

“Mama, you should hang up my picture. It’s you, me, and Satine!” Bo said, but she now didn’t think her mom liked it. After all she said Bo would never be an artist. Bo frowned at the thought.

Her mom paused but then nodded. “Of course, Bo-Katan. I’m sure Satine would like if I hung this up. And you worked hard on it.” 

Bo beamed and watched as her mother put it on the wall. Despite what her mom said, she agreed with Ursa. It was one of Bo’s best works. After that Bo’s mom let her run around wild for awhile, not too wild though. When she had too much fun her mom would glare at her and make comments about how she was going to ruin her hair and dress.

Bo played around at the house. She looked at her old toys and even went back into Satine’s room. Satine had clearly been using her room and she had all sorts of weird things there that she hadn’t had before. There were some flowers that had been dried and a necklace with some stars. There was another that looked like a little lightsaber. Weird. 

Kind of cool too. Bo ran her hand over it and she considered putting the star necklace on. Satine wouldn’t mind. Bo paused but then put it on her neck. It looked pretty on her. Satine would think so too.

Bo looked around a little bit more and found something weird buried deep in Satine’s underwear drawer. She didn’t know what it looked like just some boring white stick gadget. It was some kind of weird trinket but it had an area that showed a plus. Bo shook it to see if it did anything but nope. Nothing. What was even the point of this? So boring. Why didn’t it do anything fun? Why did teenagers not like fun things? She tossed it back in the drawer. 

Bo looked around a bit more and found a cute stuffed owl. It had such big eyes. Bo was instantly in love with it. So adorable. She hugged it. So soft. It was blue. Kryze colors. It was strange Satine had it. She usually gave Bo her old toys and didn’t buy new ones like this. 

A lot of her things were strange. She found a little charm bracelet. It didn’t look very expensive, even though most Satine’s jewelry was. It had a little owl charm on it as well as a cute smiling cactus, and a crown. The final charm looked like two lightsabers put together so they looked like a T. Weird. Satine didn’t even like lightsabers like Bo did. 

Bo thought maybe she would find some more weird things but then she saw some boring political papers. Ew. 

That was when her mom came in.

“Satine wouldn’t want you to mess with her things.” Her mother sighed and shook her head. “She’s been acting so difficult.”

Bo tilted her head to the side. Her mom never said anything against Satine ever. 

“She’s been telling me over and over again how she should leave and live at the palace full time.” Her mom frowned. “You should tell your sister how heartbroken you would be if she abandoned you.” 

“I…” Bo tried to say but the words got stuck in her throat. It did make sense that Satine would want to move out. She was grown now and the duchess. It was weird even to Bo that she would still live here when she was in charge of a system of planets.

But she didn’t say that.

“I’m worried the Jedi have gotten to her. And she’s a teen girl even if she is the duchess and they’re…” her mother shrugged and shook her head. “You need to remind her what is important. Family and Mandalore.” Her mother ruffled her hair. “Satine loves you.”

“I love her more than anyone.” Bo clutched her hands together. It was true. All the time she has spent off world she had been thinking about her sister. And now maybe she could help her. She was older after all.

And then maybe Satine could stay for a little bit longer.

“I know you do and this is a way to help her.” She sighed. “Satine was with the Jedi a long time and they… they can be manipulative.”

“What?” Bo asked confused.

“I’m just saying that they’re not our friends, Bo-Katan. They could have told your sister many lies. They could try to their powers on her.”

Would they do that? Would they trust and hurt Satine like that? 

“You can help me by telling me what Satine says and just being a sweet sister to her.” 

“I… my friend Lottie told me about someone who did bad things to Mandalorian kids. He wanted them to have weird powers.”

Her mom looked at her for a long time and then nodded. “Yes, there was someone who did that, but he wasn’t a Jedi. It’s irrelevant though. We can’t trust the Jedi either. They could want to hurt you or your sister.” 

“Why does Satine have such weird things?” Bo asked, tilting her head to the side. 

“Like what?” her mom said as she went over to Satine’s bed and sat on it. “You always were good at finding things.” 

“I found this.” Bo showed her the charm bracelet. “It doesn’t look like something Satine would have.” Bo kind of liked it though or at least the lightsaber charm. Even though the Jedi were bad, she still liked their weapons. 

Her mother yanked it away from Bo so fast that the cactus charm scratched Bo’s hand. She let out a small cry but didn’t say anything. 

“This… This isn’t usually something your sister would pick.” Her mother put the bracelet in a pocket. “I’ll take care of this for awhile.”

“But it’s Satine’s!” 

“Yes, and I’m going to keep a close eye on it for her.” 

That didn’t sound right. She was stealing it. Why would her mom even want it? She liked super expensive jewelry too and didn’t like lightsabers or cute cactuses. 

“But Satine’s the Duchess of Mandalore and that’s hers!” 

“And I already told you, I’m just keeping an eye on it.” 

“But—” Bo tried to say. 

“But nothing,” her mother sighed and pulled the charm bracelet again and looked at it. She touched the lightsaber charm and her frown deepened. “Did you find anything else interesting.” 

There was that weird thing that didn’t do anything that was in Satine’s drawer, but it was boring, and her mom shouldn’t be stealing Satine’s things. She wasn’t going to mention the owl either because it was cute and maybe it was a gift for Bo. She would act surprised when she was given it. 

Bo shook her head. “No.” 

“Really?” 

“Nothing weird.” Bo tried to control her face so she didn’t look like she was lying.

Her mother studied her but then sighed. “We should get going, but when you see Satine don’t mention we were in her room. She’s changed. She’ll be upset. And I don’t want her to move out yet. I know it’s silly.” 

The second part was like she wasn’t talking to Bo, but Bo nodded. 

They didn't spend much longer at the house. Soon they on a new speeder and heading to the capital city which wasn’t too far away. Bo’s heart beat fast. It was going to be so amazing to see Satine again. What was Bo going to say when she first saw her? She needed to let her sister know that she had missed her the most. 

As soon as they got to the palace, Bo sprinted ahead of her mother. Her mother stopped at some food stand to get something for Satine, but Bo didn’t know why. She was sure since Satine was duchess she could have whatever she wanted. The best food ever. Bo would have eaten candy. 

Maybe Satine should move out. Then she could live here like she was supposed to. Maybe Bo could move here too. They all could live here. 

But for some reason her mother didn’t want that? Bo didn’t get why. This was where Satine was supposed to be. It was tradition. Her mom was being weird. Bo would have thought she’d want Satine to be here and maybe all of them. 

Her mom caught up and the two of them were let in the palace. A few people in there commented on how cute Bo was and how she looked like a little Satine. She didn’t look anything like Satine, and she told one of them that, which caused her mom to glare at her. But it was true. The only way they looked alike was they were both tall. 

Bo hoped she was taller one day. 

Bo wondered if this was the only place Satine worked. Probably not, but she was here now and that was all that mattered. Bo didn’t even try to look at everything, even though she hadn’t been here many times. She just wanted to find Satine. 

“Your sister is probably in one of her offices,” her mom said. “She’s a hard worker. That’s one good thing about her.” She almost sounded bitter at the last comment, but Bo ignored it because she had to be wrong. And she didn’t care. 

Bo ran ahead checking all the offices. She ran across some random people, but she didn’t even bother talking to them. She just checked offices. 

“Bo-Katan, stop acting this way. Calm down and act like a lady.” 

Bo ignored her mother. 

And then she finally opened one of the offices and saw her sister. Her sister’s eyes widened when she saw her as if she couldn’t believe it. She looked paler and thinner, but she was still her sister. 

“Satine!” Bo cried as she ran over to her and jumped in her arms barely giving Satine time to stand up. “I missed you so much. I… I… I thought you might die. I was so afraid for you.” Bo usually never said any of this, but she couldn’t stop. “I love you.” 

Satine hugged her tightly and then kissed her on the forehead. “I missed you too, verd'ika. I thought about you constantly.” She put Bo down on the floor. “I was worried about you too. They didn’t tell me what was going on with you or Mom.” 

Bo nodded. It had been the same with her. She had wanted to know what was going on with Satine, but she didn’t dare ask because then she could put her in danger. She doubted that Tia and Orie knew anyway and Lottie… Lottie was strange.

Bo’s friend, but still strange and she had been sad when the New Mandalorians won the war. 

“I don’t want to ever be apart again.” Bo clutched her sister’s hand. 

“We don’t have to be, but I’m sure you’ll get bored of spending that much time with me.” 

“No, I won’t!” Even though she did do boring stuff here at the palace probably. Probably stuff like the economy and talking to boring politicians who didn’t like fun things. 

“You would.” She ruffled her hair. “I want to hear everything that happened when you were gone.” 

Bo smiled and was about to tell her when their mother walked into the office. 

“I see you found Satine, Bo-Katan,” her mother said with a sigh. 

Satine raised her eyebrows and her face somehow got even paler than it already was. She almost looked sick. Bo didn’t understand. 

“Mother, what is that smell?” Satine actually gagged. Bo didn’t get it. She didn’t smell anything. 

“I brought you something. One of the sandwiches you liked when you were a little girl.” Their mother came over and offered Satine the sandwich. It was a sandwich with some kind of fish. Satine had loved them even before Bo had left. “I thought you’d like something that would remind you of when—” 

But their mom didn’t get a chance to finish. Satine threw up all over Bo’s dress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked this. Like I said, I should have waited to post this, but I just couldn't. 
> 
> Please comment, sub, and leave kudos. I love you all!


	11. Chapter 11

Vomit. There was vomit on Bo’s dress. On Bo. All she could do was stare at it. Ew. Ew. Ew. 

“Satine, how could you?!” Their mom said before Bo could say anything. Her voice was so high. “That dress—”

“I’m sorry.” Satine was grabbing her stomach. She moved one of her hands over her mouth. “I’m so sorry, Bo-Katan.” 

Bo looked down at the dress. Vomit. She looked up at Satine, not even sure what to do. It was so gross. So gross. She wanted it off her. 

“That was Kortney’s dress,” their mother said, tears in her eyes. She wasn’t even the one who had been vomited on. “That was Kortney’s dress and you vomited on it. How could you do that? How could you?” 

Kortney? Who was that? And why weren’t they doing something about the vomit? It was all over Bo and it smelled and she hated it. Maybe she should just take it off, but she knew her mother would flip out if she did. 

“I… I didn’t know it was Kortney’s and I couldn’t help it,” Satine said, looking even paler than before. She gagged. Bo darted away. She didn’t want to be vomited on again. 

“I don’t like this,” Bo said in a small voice. She grabbed something from Satine’s desk, a paper, and tried to use it to wipe off the dress, but it wasn’t working well and just making a mess. “I don’t like this at all. Don’t you ever vomit on me again! Ever!” 

“Stop it, Bo-Katan!” Satine grabbed the paper from her and then sighed. “I’m sorry, Bo. I’m so sorry. I’m… I’m sick.” 

“You’re always sick now. What is your problem? Are you…”? Their mother narrowed her eyes at her. 

“I wasn’t drinking last night, Mother.” 

“I have vomit on me!” Bo cried. She didn’t want them to do this stupid talk. She didn’t care why Satine was sick. She had gross vomit on her. If they didn’t get it off soon then she was going to just take her dress off and her mom would have to just live with it not being lady like. 

“I didn’t say you were drinking, Satine.” 

Satine glared at her. “Then what were you trying to say? Why don’t you just come out and ask since I know you want to?” 

Their mother glared at her, but all of this was stupid. Bo had vomit on her dress. She didn’t care about why Satine was sick, as long as she would be okay. Maybe she just didn’t like fishy sandwich even though she used to. 

“I have vomit on my dress!” Bo almost yelled it. 

“Bo-Katan, stop it,” their mother snapped finally looking at her. “You need to get better at hiding your emotions. You think warriors always just say exactly what they’re thinking?”

Bo stumbled backward. 

Now their mother looked back at Satine. “You take care of Bo-Katan today since you’re so grown. You can do that.” 

“I’m working and—” 

“You can do both, and make sure you find a way to get that vomit out of Kortney’s dress.” 

Their mother didn’t wait for them to say anything else and stormed out, leaving Bo with Satine. Satine sighed and rolled her eyes, but she did actually do something about the vomit. She took her out of the office and upstairs to what was probably supposed to be Satine’s room here. It looked more like a hotel room. A hotel room at the fanciest hotel ever. Bo leaned over and touched the bed and it was so soft. Sleeping on it would probably be like sleeping on a feather. 

“I suppose we’ll have to put you in something of mine. It won’t fit you but we don’t have much of a choice.” 

And that was what Satine did. Bo was put in an emerald green dress that probably would have been shortish on Satine, but dragged on the floor when Bo wore it unless she pulled it up slightly. She would never be able to run around in this. 

Still, she wore it. 

She thought that Satine would have one of her assistants watch her so she could go back and do duchess work, but she took Bo with her back to her office. 

“You need to be super good,” Satine said. “Mother probably thinks you’re going to cause trouble and that’s why she wants you here.” 

“Why? She loves you the most.” 

Satine sighed and folded her arms over her chest. “She loves us the same.” Yeah, Bo doubted that. “But right now she likes you a lot more, I’m sure. She doesn’t like that I’m not doing what she wants now.” Satine paused. “And she thinks that I’m… That I’m…” Satine put her hand on her stomach and then sighed.

“That you’re what?” Bo asked, not getting it.

Satine studied her, but then she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s nothing you need to worry about. But promise me you’ll be good today.” 

Bo nodded. She would be good but it was hard. She colored most the day but that got so boring. She wanted to run around and explore the palace, but Satine probably wouldn’t let her, and she wanted to make her happy. She didn’t want her mother and Satine to try and get rid of her again. They had taken their time bringing her back before and maybe that was because they thought she was too wild. 

So she was good. 

Satine didn’t have many visitors anyway and the ones who did show up looked just like officials who worked for her. They said how Bo was cute and looked like a little Satine, even though she still didn’t look anything like her. 

Eventually it was finally time to go. She thought once they got home that Satine would spend all her time with their mother, but she just gave her Bo’s—no—Kortney’s dress and then left to her room, saying something about doing more work there.

Bo’s mother was just staring at the dress, which now didn’t have vomit on it. For a moment, Bo thought she saw tears in her mother’s eyes, but then when she looked closer, they were gone. 

“Mom—” Bo tried to say. 

“You should go out and play. Go on the swing or something.” Her mother didn’t wait for her to say anything else and left, leaving Bo alone. Bo did what she wanted though and went to the swing set outside. She didn’t swing high kicked off slightly so the swing was just barely moving. The sun was starting to hide behind the horizon, but Bo didn’t care if it got dark. She wasn’t afraid and the war was over now.

And yet Bo wished that Lottie was here. The two of them could be running around playing if she was. 

Bo heard footsteps and looked up and there was Satine who was finally wearing clothes that weren’t the super fancy duchess ones. Her ugly hair piece she always wore was gone too. 

“Mind if I join you?” Satine asked. 

Bo shook her head and Satine sat on the swing next to her. She didn’t swing high either and did the same thing that Bo was doing so the swing barely moved. 

“Were the jetii mean to you?” Bo asked, looking at her sister. Bo wouldn’t forget what Lottie had told her about them and even though Satine looked okay, maybe she wasn’t. After all she had been sick earlier and their mom said she was always sick. Maybe they had poisoned her or done something bad. “Did they hurt you?” 

She gave her a look. “They wouldn’t do that.” 

“But the jetii are our enemies!” Bo repeated. It wasn’t just Lottie who had told her that. Everyone knew that the Jedi had been Mandalore’s enemies in the past, which made them bad. “So they—” 

“They wouldn’t ever hurt me, Bo. They were great. Qui-Gon Jinn is kind and wise. As for Obi-Wan, he…” She got a weird look in her eyes and stared off at nothing. 

“He what?” Why hadn’t she finished what she was saying, and why did she have that weird look in her eyes? Even in the dark, Bo could see it and she didn’t like it. 

“Nothing. Nothing, Bo-Katan.” Satine smiled and got off the swing. “Just trust me, they were very nice. You would like them if you got to know them.” 

Bo didn’t know about that.

“You know Kortney and I spent a lot of time here,” Satine said. Bo couldn’t believe that they would just bring this person up again when they hadn’t before. Had they? Bo tried to remember.

“Who is she?” 

Satine paused and then put her hands behind her back. “She was our sister. She died before you were born.” 

Their sister… They had another sister. No one had told her this. How could they have not told her this? And how could she had died? 

“She was amazing and so funny. In some ways she was kind of like you. A fighter. We were less than a year apart.” Satine sat back on the swing, but leaned closer to Bo. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. Mother doesn’t like to talk about her. Her death was hard on her and then Dad died just over a year later.” 

“I’m… I’m sorry.” Bo looked at the ground. What would her sister have really been like? Would she have been more like Satine or more like Bo? Maybe she would have understood her. Maybe they would have been friends, even if she was a lot older. 

“It’s… It’s okay, Bo,” Satine said. “I just thought you deserved to know about her even if it’s hard on Mom. She was your sister too.” 

Bo was about to say something, but she didn’t get the chance. 

“Satine! Bo-Katan!” their mother said as she hurried over to them. She was carrying a glass of something in her hand. 

Bo glared at her. Maybe she should say something about Kortney. Maybe she should ask her mom why she didn’t tell her about her sister. She also wanted to ask why she hadn’t sent for her to come back earlier. 

“Bo-Katan, you should head inside now. It’s getting late.” Yes, but she was the one who had told her to go outside! “Oh, and Satine I brought you something.” Before Satine could say anything their mother shoved the glass in her hands. “Tihaar, you’re grown now so why don’t you have some, Satine. I’m sure you’ve had alcohol before.” 

Satine stared at the glass as if it had two heads or was a hideous creature. 

“Come on, Satine. Why don’t you have some?” their mother asked. Her voice sounded half demanding, but also pleading in a way. “You work hard. You deserve to have something to take the edge off everything.” She looked at Bo. “Don’t you think your sister should?” 

“I… I like to keep a clear head and—” 

“And you’re not at work, Satine,” their mother said. “You’re at home so why don’t you have a drink? You deserve to after everything you’ve been through.” 

“I…” 

Bo couldn’t take this. Obviously Satine didn’t want alcohol. Bo jumped off the swing and then accidentally ran into Satine, causing her to spill the drink all over the ground. 

“Bo-Katan Kryze!” their mother said. “How dare you?!” 

“It was an accident, Mama,” Bo said, sticking her lip out. She tried not to look pleased. 

Her mother sighed and grabbed her arm and yanked her toward the house and then inside it. She stared at her. “Did your sister make you do this?” 

Bo shook her head. How did her mother think she could even do that when they hadn’t known that she would bring out alcohol?

“Did your sister say that she was…” Their mother’s voice broke and she shook her head. “You need to keep an eye on Satine for me. I’m so worried about her. So worried.”

“I… She… She told me…” 

Her mother gripped her arm even harder. Bo let out a cry, but her mother didn’t release her grip. She hated that she had reacted. Maybe Bo’s mom was right that soldiers shouldn’t show their emotions so easily. “She told you what?” 

“She told me about Kortney.” 

And with that, her mother let go of her arm. Bo rubbed it, but tried not to react anymore than that. 

“I… I’m sorry, Bo-Katan. I’m really sorry,” her mother sighed and then put her hand on Bo’s shoulder. “You should go to sleep, ad’ika. It’s getting late.” 

Bo wasn’t tired, but she nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Please leave comments and kudos! Thank you again!
> 
> Oh, and if anyone is interested I did post a story about Bo-Katan and Din Djarin today. Feel free to read that too if you want. It's called "A Story of Blood and Tears"


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should have waited to post this, but I'm bad lol. Also if you’re interested, consider reading my story with Bo and Din that I added to this series. Thank you and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Satine was never around now and Bo was bored constantly. She was living at the palace basically now so Bo had nothing to do. It wasn’t like their mom played with Bo much. Most the time when she spoke to Bo, it was asking her to watch Satine closely if she came back over and to try and get information on her. Bo didn’t want to do that. 

Bo was even happy when she started to go to school. Each day she went into the capital since the Academy was there. Older students got to live there, but since Bo wasn’t old enough she had to go home all the time. School was fun. At least history and recess were. Recess was the best. She made new friends and they would play Mandalorian warriors all the time. It was great. 

It almost reminded her of when she had played with Lottie. But it wasn’t as fun since the teachers wouldn’t let them get too rough. They weren’t allowed to hit each other with toy swords even. Boring. 

Still, it was better than it had been. 

Her mom even let her bring some of her friends over once and they ran wild. She kept expecting that her mom would come out and make them stop and act like good children, but she didn’t. 

At one point even her mother came out. Some of Bo’s friends’ parents were with her. They were all smiling, but Bo’s stomach twisted. Bo froze. This was when she was sure that her mother would scold her, but then she realized what she was holding. Bo’s mouth fell open. She couldn’t believe it. 

“Bo-Katan, what did I tell you about hiding your emotions?” her mother laughed. “A warrior and soldier must be able to conceal them at times.” She ruffled Bo’s hair. 

“It’s daddy’s helmet!” Bo said, staring at it. Her mother never brought it out. 

“My moms have one like that too,” Bo’s friend Maya said. 

“Yes, I’m sure they do.” Bo’s mother glanced back at Maya’s mother. “But is it made of pure besker like this one?” 

Maya’s parents rolled eyes. “You might want to cut back on the Tihaar, Nova.” Nova was Bo’s mother actual name, though Bo didn’t call her that obviously. But she had heard Satine do it a couple times recently. If Bo did the same thing, she imagined her mom would slap her. 

Bo’s mother grinned and went over to her friend and put her arm over her shoulder. “What fun is that?” 

Her friend actually giggled about that. Ugh, adults were annoying when they’ve had too much alcohol. 

“See this helmet, Bo-Katan?” Well obviously, she saw it. She had eyes. Still Bo didn’t say anything. “You can use it today!” 

Bo’s eyes widened. “Really?” Her mom never let her touch it. Sometimes Bo would look at it, but her mom watched it more and made sure she didn’t get too close since she took it when their house had been attacked.

“Yes, my sweet ad’ika.” Her mother handed Bo the helmet. Holding it felt just as good as it had before. But it was different because she wasn’t in danger now. 

“I’ll be really careful with it, Mama.” Bo put it on her head. It didn’t fit her, but she didn’t care. And it was better than before. And she still loved it. 

“You don’t need to be careful with it, Bo-Katan.” One of Bo’s mom’s friends made a huffing noise. “Oh, come on. It’s made of pure beskar. Bo-Katan could get hit in the face with a lightsaber and she would be okay.” 

Bo tried to adjust the helmet more. Even if it was too big, wearing it felt right. Like what she was meant to do. 

“Don’t worry. We’ll get it adjusted when you’re older.” 

Bo took off the helmet and looked at her. What was she trying to say?

“Because Bo-Katan, you’re going to get the helmet and all of the armor. Once you’re closer to being done growing we’ll get it fixed so it’s right for you. It’s better in the Kryze family for generations and that’s going to continue with you.” 

She couldn’t believe it. All she could do was stare at her mother. The armor… She was going to get the armor. It was what she had always wanted so she could be a good Mandalorian warrior and protect everyone. Not just Satine, but everyone. 

“R-really?” Bo asked. This couldn’t be real. Before her mom had acted like no one would ever have it. And even if someone did get it, wouldn’t it be Satine. Satine got pretty much everything. 

“Yes, really,” Bo’s mother said. She looked at her friends. “But of course, Bo-Katan will never need to use it. Mandalore is at peace and that will continue thanks to my oldest daughter, Satine the duchess of Mandalore.” 

“She should still have it,” said her mom’s friend. “It’s part of our tradition as Mandalorians.” 

“Yes, and she will have it.”

Bo squeezed and jumped in her mother’s arms. She couldn’t believe this. This was the best day of her life. She had wanted that armor since the first time she saw it as a little girl. It was meant to be with her. 

“I love you, Mama!” Bo cried. 

“I love you too, little solider.” Her mother spun her around. For a moment, she stumbled and Bo thought she would drop her, but then she regained her balance. Bo giggled nervously. Still this was the best. She hoped her mother got drunk more. 

She finally put Bo down on the ground and then put her hands on her shoulders. “You want to know why I’m giving you this?” 

Bo titled her head to the side. 

“Because your sister is the duchess of Mandalore and you deserve something special also,” she said this part loud so her friends would obviously hear. Then she lowered her voice. “And unlike your sister you’re not kriffing around with the Jetii.” 

“I promise Mama that I’ll always hate the Jetii!” Bo said. 

Her mother gave her a look and then she was wondering if she wasn’t supposed to say that out loud or that loud, but then her mother giggled. “I know you will.” Her mother glanced at her friends. “I have one daughter who is the duchess of Mandalore and another who has just as bright of a future.”

Bo smiled and put the helmet back on.

Her mother grinned and staggered over to her friends who were saying things about how she was a good mother. Normally Bo would have thought that was insane, but now she was going to have her family’s armor and helmet. 

So she was ecstatic.

She hoped her mother got drunk more. Today was the best day of her life.

“Bo-Katan, I have something else for you too.” She grabbed Bo’s hand and pulled her toward the house. The others also followed them inside and that was where her mother gave her a toy Darksaber. Wow! Today was getting even better! 

“I was going to give it to you for your birthday, but now is a good time,” her mother said as she tried to adjust Bo’s helmet. “And you deserve it now. I’m sure it hurt you that I couldn’t bring you home right away, but I wanted to.” She leaned closer to Bo’s ear. “Your sister was being difficult.” 

Bo didn’t know what to say, but she didn’t get a chance because that was when Bo’s mom and her friends had Bo’s friends put on some of her toy armor. Then they took a couple holographic images of Bo and her friends. Bo got to wear the real armor and to hold the toy Darksaber so it was great.

*** 

After the others left, Bo tried to be a good daughter like Satine used to be on the rare occasions their mother acted like this. She got her water and even something to throw up in. She thought she was doing a good job even though she was smaller and younger than Satine. 

In the morning, Bo tried to make her mother caf, but that was harder than she thought it would be. She thought if she just clicked the button it would make itself. But it wasn’t working. The first time it did nothing and the second time, the caf spilled all over the floor. Why was it acting like this? What was she doing wrong? 

The kitchen door opened. Bo fully expected to see her mom there who wouldn’t be happy that she was making a mess and might not feel good because of all the Tihaar she drank last night. But she was wrong. It was Satine. 

“Satine, help me!” Bo said, jumping off the counter. “I’m making caf for Mama.” 

“Why doesn’t she make it for herself?” Satine asked, but she came over and fixed the caf machine and then started it.

“She’s still sleeping.” Bo tried to clean up the caf mess that she had made, but it seemed like it was just making more of a mess. 

Satine shook her head and then helped her clean it up. She was a lot better at it than Bo was. “Mom should make it herself. Or is she not feeling well?” 

“She drank too much Tihaar last night.” Maybe Bo shouldn’t have said that, but oh well. “But it’s good because I got Dad’s armor and a Darksaber.” 

“Yes, I saw the holographic picture. It was very… cute.” She gave Bo a forced looking smile. “You deserve the armor. I always thought that you should be the one to have it.” 

Bo beamed. 

When the caf was done, Satine poured two cups and then took a sip out of one. “Mom’s lucky today is Saturday because otherwise you would have to go to school.” 

“Mama didn’t say you were coming over today,” Bo said. She took their mom’s cup and took a small sip. She made a face. Caf was disgusting. She thought maybe now that it was older, it wouldn’t taste that bad but it did. 

“I have something I need to tell her.” Satine against the counter and sighed. “She’s not going to be happy, Bo-Katan. Not that it matters. Not everything can go the way she wants.” She took another sip of the caf. 

“What are you going to tell her?” 

“You’ll see soon,” Satine said with a sigh.

Satine actually looked better today, even though her eyes kept darting to the kitchen door as if she was worried their mother would come in. She didn’t look as pale and she had gained some of her weight back. And there was just something about her. 

“You look pretty,” Bo said as she went over to her sister. 

Satine smiled and hugged her. 

That was when their mother walked in, clutching her head. She groaned when she saw Satine. “You’re not supposed to be here today.” She saw the caf and took it from the counter. She took a big sip, not wincing like Bo had. 

“That was an interesting picture you sent of Bo-Katan. You know it looks bad for my own sister to be wearing things that remind us of—” 

“Those were in your family for generations and Bo-Katan wants them.” 

Satine sighed. “You shouldn’t… You don’t have to be taking holographic images of it.” 

Her mother shrugged. 

“I didn’t come here about that,” Satine said. Her voice shook for a moment, but then regained the confidence that it usually had. Satine was nervous. Why was she nervous? “I have something important to tell you two.”

“I don’t feel well. Can it wait?” their mother said with a sigh. She took another sip of caf.

“No, it can’t wait. I need to tell you this now,” Satine said.

Their mother sighed yet again as if Satine was being very difficult. “Fine, you can tell us what you need to.” 

Satine nodded and the three of them went into the karyai where Bo sat next to Satine on the couch and their mother sat in a chair opposed to them. 

“Bo, your hair is so tangled.” Satine picked up a comb that happened to be next to the couch and ran it through Bo’s hair. This was weird, but it reminded Bo of when she had been really little so she sort of liked it, especially since she saw Satine less. She snuggled up close to her sister. 

“Yes, her hair is tangled. What else is new? Tell me why you actually came here, Satine.” Satine’s face fell and their mother sighed and shook her head. “It’s okay, Satine. Just tell us what you’re here for.” 

“I… I need to tell you about something that happened when I was with Obi-Wan.” Satine kept brushing Bo’s hair more, even though Bo didn’t think she had anymore tangles in it. It really hadn’t been that bad. 

“What about that Jetii?” Their mother’s face broke. It didn’t even sound like it belonged to her. “Satine, you better not be trying to tell me…” her mother shook her head and didn’t finish her sentence. 

“We’re really close. He… You would like him, Mother. Both of you would. He’s an amazing person.”

Bo gave her sister a look. Why would she like a Jetii? They were bad and this was weird. Satine knew that the Jetii had done bad things to Mandalore even if she had been with them for awhile. That didn’t change things, right? 

“I swear you would like him, Bo.” Satine finally put the comb down and then put her arm around Bo’s shoulder. “I know you’ve been playing in my room. We got the owl toy for you. I know you like owls and… I just forgot to give it you.” 

Had that really been for her? The last time she had been in Satine’s room the owl had been gone as well as all the other weird things that she had found. 

“Satine… Get to the point.” 

Satine pulled Bo closer to her and now Bo’s stomach even twisted. Something was really wrong. Satine and their mom wouldn’t be acting this way if that wasn’t the case. 

“I mean it, Satine Kryze. Just say it. It better not be what I think it is.” 

Satine’s face paled more and she laced her other hand with Bo’s. There was a long silence that seemed like it would go on forever. 

And then Satine ended it. 

“I’m pregnant.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and leave kudos!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did tweak Bo's age a little bit. Just FYI. Oh, I think soonish I actually will be able to do a decent time jump so if you're tired of little Bo, she won't be as little soon.

Bo didn’t understand. All she could do was stare at Satine who was still clutching her as if she was the only way she would survive a ship crash. Like Bo was her life line in a storm. None of it even made sense to Bo. Satine was pregnant. Bo didn’t know too much about pregnancy, and like how was it even possible? It didn’t make sense to her. Her sister wasn’t married or like dating anyone. 

And wasn’t that important for… that…? It was so confusing. 

“Satine…” their mother said with an edge to her voice that Bo had never heard before. It sounded almost dangerous. “Satine, tell me that this is some kind of horrible joke.” 

“I have this under control.” Satine finally let go of Bo. “I know you’re thinking this is a disaster but—” 

“A disaster, Satine Kryze? It’s a lot worse than that. You’re the Duchess of Mandalore. How could you let this happen? Why would you do something so careless?” their mother stood up and practically threw the cup of caf onto the end table. It spilled everywhere, but their mother didn’t even look at it even though she normally scolded Bo for making much smaller messes. “You seriously… please tell me that you’re not serious. You can’t be pregnant.” 

“I am, but I have a plan and it’s not as horrible as you’re acting like it is. It’s just not what I had planned.” 

Bo couldn’t even move. She was stuck in place. 

“How is it not that horrible? You’re pregnant with a Jedi’s bastard child!” 

“It’s… Jedi is the father?” Bo asked, trying to understand. How could a Jedi be the father? Her sister was Mandalorian and Jedi were the enemy, right? 

“Yes, that’s what she is saying, Bo-Katan.” Their mother pulled at her own hair. “She’s saying that while you and I were worried that Satine could be dead that she and that Jedi padawan were fuc—” 

“Mother! Stop! It wasn’t like that!” She stood up and put her hands on her hips. “It’s not like Obi-Wan and I were just…” She paused and bit her lip. “It’s not like we were having meaningless sex. I love him!” 

“You… You have a jetii baby?” Bo whispered. Her sister loved a Jedi and she was going to have a Jedi’s child. How could this happen? 

“You love him? You can’t be serious? Satine, you were a good Mandalorian girl. How could you think you’re in love with a Jedi? You’ve known what they’ve done to our people throughout history. Your father and I taught you that. Everyone’s taught you that!” 

“Obi-Wan is more than just a Jedi. He’s a person. Being a Jedi isn’t his entire personality!” 

“So what do you think’s going to happen, Satine? Do you think you’re going to marry this jetii?” 

Marry a Jedi? Was Satine going to marry a Jedi? How could that even happen? They were bad and did horrible things. They hated Mandalore. Her Jedi boyfriend person probably really hated Satine and did this to hurt her. Bo couldn’t breathe. She was having trouble breathing. She gasped for breath. 

“Satine, you can’t be this naïve. The Jedi don’t have sex for love. They do it for fun. You know they’re not allowed to have attachments. He was just using you and you were stupid enough to fall for it. I honestly can’t believe you.” 

Bo didn’t understand a lot of this, but she did know that it was really bad. Her sister had done something she wasn’t supposed to with a Jedi and now she was going to have a baby who would probably be as bad as the Jedi. What kind of horrible things would happen? Would the Jedi come back and try to hurt Satine? Was Bo going to have to fight them? Her armor wasn’t ready yet and she was only five. She probably wasn’t ready to fight a Jedi even if he was a Jedi Padawan, whatever that meant. 

She wiped at her eyes and tried to get further away from Satine. 

“Obi-Wan and I—”

“Please, Satine. Please don’t tell me that he loves you too, because there is just no way that is true.” Their mother came over to Satine and stuck her finger near her chest. “So what is your wonderful plan? You’re the Duchess of Mandalore. You can’t just have some illegitimate Jedi child.” 

Satine stumbled back and fell back onto the couch. Bo jumped off it not wanting to be near her. She and the Jedi… The baby would be a Jedi… And… Bo grabbed her stomach. She was going to be sick. All of this was confusing and scary. What did it even mean? 

“I’m going to contact Obi-Wan and—” 

“You’re going to contact Obi-Wan? Yes, I’m sure a Jedi is really going to care. You know the Jedi are sworn off attachments. They take children when they’re babies and train them to be Jedi.” Were they going to try and do that to Satine’s baby? Maybe it wouldn’t be bad like a Jedi and they would steal him or her and make them be a Jedi? Bo didn’t know what to think about all of this, but she didn’t want Satine’s baby to get hurt. Unless…?

“Is the baby going to be evil?” Bo asked. 

No one even looked at Bo. 

“He’s—” 

“No, Satine. He’s not just going to leave the Jedi Order to be with some Mandalorian, even if you are the Duchess. He was having fun and that’s all it was. You should accept that. It would make things easier for you eventually.” She cleared her throat. “Or maybe he was trying to hurt you and Mandalore. It doesn’t look good for the Duchess of Mandalore to have a child with our historical enemy. An enemy who has only cared about hurting Mandalore.”

Hurting Mandalore. Hurting Mandalore. Hurting Mandalorians like Bo and her family. That was what this Jedi had to be like. And he had tricked her sister. There was a lot that Bo didn’t understand, but this whole thing had to be bad, right? 

Satine glared at her and put her hand over her heart. “You really don’t know anything about him. You only met him once. The two of us—” 

“Satine, please. Men say all sorts of things when they want someone to sle—”

“Do you think this is appropriate to talk about with Bo in the room?” Satine asked, glancing over at Bo. 

Bo wiped at her eyes and discovered she was crying. She wiped at them again but tears kept coming. 

“Bo’s heard worse than this. Besides now she is going to have to have a Jedi’s spawn as a niece or nephew.” 

Bo let out a cry. This… Why was this happening? Her mother was mad and Satine… Satine had done something that she wasn’t supposed to with the Jedi. 

“Don’t call the baby that,” Satine spat out. “He’s not just some Jedi spawn. He’s going to be my son. Or she’ll be my daughter.” She added that second part as if an after thought as if she already assumed that the baby would be a boy. “And they’ll be your grandchild.” 

Bo let out yet another small cry, even though she knew that she shouldn’t? What was wrong with her? Why was she crying? This was bad, but she couldn’t cry because that made things worse and she was supposed to be a strong warrior. But it was just that this had to be even worse than she thought since Satine and their mother were so upset. 

And the Jedi might try to hurt all of them? 

Satine reached out and pulled Bo toward her. Bo thought about pulling away. After all this was partially her fault. She and that Jedi. Bo tried to remember what that Jedi had looked like but it was hard to picture him. Had he really done this just to have fun like her mother said? Satine was smart. Would she really fall for something like that? 

Bo cried harder. “The Jedi! They might try and hurt you, Satine.” 

Satine’s eyes widened and their mother got a weird look at one point. Bo didn’t understand it. She actually smirked. 

“Look at what you’ve done, Satine. You’ve broken Bo-Katan’s heart. She’s still just a baby herself.” 

“I’m… I’m not—

“She’s only five! Do you remember just over a year ago, Satine?” Their mother was yelling now. So loud. It hurt Bo’s ears. Part of her wanted to leave. Normally she would want to fight, but she didn’t know how to fight something like this. “When our house was attacked. Do you remember what happened to Bo-Katan? She could have died. She could have died because she was trying to protect you. It would have been all your fault.” 

Satine gripped Bo tighter. So tight, but Bo wanted to get away from her. She didn’t want anyone to touch her. 

“I… It…” 

“How dare you…” Satine said, her voice breaking. “How dare you…? I…” 

“Satine, I’m trying to help you,” their mother said with a sigh. She came over to them and reached toward Satine, but then she let her hands fall. “I know this is hard but…”

“You’re not trying to help me,” Satine said, standing up, even though she kept her grip on Bo’s hand. “You just… You want to control me and this—” 

“You don’t understand,” their mother’s voice had finally lowered. “I have to protect not just you, but Bo-Katan as well. And you’re hurting her.” 

Bo was crying harder now. “The Jedi… Are they going to hurt you and the baby, Satine?” 

Satine pulled away and stared at Bo. “Obi-Wan wouldn’t ever hurt me or the baby. Most Jedi wouldn’t do something like that.” 

“The Jedi might come and cut us into pieces and do experiments on us,” Bo said, remembering what Lottie said. “That’s what they do! That’s what they do to Mandalorian children. They’ll hurt us and my armor isn’t ready!” 

Their mother raised an eyebrow and shook her head.

“Seriously, Mother? You’re going to let Bo-Katan believe things like that?” 

“I never told her anything like that. Her friend did,” their mother shrugged. “But maybe it’s good that one of my remaining daughters isn’t kriffing around with the Jedi.” 

“You’re letting her believe that and it’s dangerous. What if she never stops believing it and becomes some kind of extremist? The world isn’t just us versus them.” 

Their mother rolled her eyes. “That’s never going to happen, Satine. I don’t know what your sister will do when she’s an adult, but she’s not going to be making Jedi babies so that’s a plus at least. And she also isn’t going to be some extremist. She just knows the Jedi aren’t to be trusted.” 

Bo kept wiping at her eyes. 

Satine knelt down to Bo’s level, but Bo stumbled backward. “Bo, I promise no one is going to hurt anyone. Everything is fine.” 

“No one is going to hurt anyone? You’ve hurt me and Bo and more importantly you’ve hurt Mandalore.”

“How have I hurt Mandalore?” Satine asked. She tried to grab Bo again, but Bo staggered backward. “This has nothing to do with Mandalore. This is my personal life.” 

“Satine, you think people aren’t going to talk if you have some illegitimate child?” 

“Obi-Wan and I—” 

“Please don’t be stupid.” Their mother clutched her head. “And they’d talk even more if you ruined that boy’s whole future as a Jedi and had him leave the order. People would talk about how the Duchess was with a Jedi. Our side barely won the war. Do you want to cause more drama?” 

“You think… you think something like that could—” 

“It’s not going to help, Satine. People will think you’re fraternizing with the enemy. You were doing just that.” 

“I’m… So what do you think I should do, Mother?” Satine asked. “What do you think is the smart thing to do? I’m not going to end the pregnancy. I thought about it, but I’m not going to do that. This is what I want.” 

“Satine…” 

“I’m not just going to do whatever you want without thinking. I’m not a child anymore,” Satine said. 

“Yes… I know that, but it doesn’t mean that you need to contact the Jedi. Please don’t tell anyone about this for now. We’ll figure it out, Satine. We’ll figure out what is right for you.” 

Bo let out a sniffle. All of this didn’t make sense. 

“Bo…” Satine said, looking at her again. She picked her up. Bo knew that she should probably struggle to get away. 

“Put her down, Satine. If you’re pregnant, then carrying around a five-year-old could hurt… could hurt the… baby.” Their mother’s voice broke at baby. 

Satine actually listened and put Bo on the floor. “You’re shaking, Bo.” But Satine was too. 

“Go take Bo up to her room. The two of us should talk by ourselves,” their mother said. 

“I wanted that earlier,” Satine said, grabbing Bo’s hand. Bo pulled away from her sister and looked at the floor. “Bo… Please…” 

“Bo, go with your sister.” 

Bo didn’t say anything but she followed her sister upstairs. Bo was relieved that at least her tears had stopped coming. Satine stopped when they got to her old room and ran in there and found the owl. Bo thought she had taken it back with her to the palace.

Actually, when she looked at it closer, this owl was a darker shade of blue. There must be two of them. 

“Obi-Wan and I did get this for you. I wanted you to have something so you would know that I thought about you all the time.” 

Bo looked at the stuffed owl. It was as cute as the owl from before, but now she didn’t know what to think about it. She hugged it for a moment, but it didn’t feel right so she let it dangle to her side. 

The two of them walked to Bo’s room and went in. Satine stood by the door and then knelt so she was at Bo’s level. “I promise no one is going to hurt you, Bo. I don’t know what your friend said, but none of the Jedi or anyone are going to come here and try to hurt you. They wouldn’t do that to you or the baby.” 

Bo stared at her.

“I mean it. I promise.” Satine kissed her forehead. “I love you.” 

Bo wiped her kiss off and kept glaring at her. 

“Please don’t be mad at me. Don’t be like mother.” 

“The Jedi…” But Bo didn’t know what to say. She looked at the owl. She tried to imagine her sister and the Jedi picking the owl, but she couldn’t even remember what the Jedi had looked like. 

“Everything’s going to be okay, Bo. I promise. This really can actually be a good thing. You’re going to be an aunt. You can play with and protect them. You’ll be a great aunt.” 

“I…” 

But Bo didn’t get a chance to finish because their mother walked in. “Let Bo have some time alone. I need to talk to you alone, Satine.”

Satine sighed and hugged Bo one last time but then she left, closing the door behind her. For awhile Bo just stared at the door, not sure what to think. Eventually she scowled and threw the owl at the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment if you want to!


	14. Chapter 14

Nothing was how it was supposed to be. Satine might have left, but everything felt different. There was just something in the air. Bo’s mother ignored her most of the time. She would keep to herself. When she did talk to Bo, it was usually to complain about Satine. 

“That girl has betrayed me after all I’ve done for her,” her mother would say with tears in her eyes. “You don’t know how much I have sacrificed for her.” 

Bo didn’t know what to say about that. Her mother was nicer to her now. She would pull Bo close to her when they were in the karyai and even tell her that she was good sometimes.

“You need to promise that you’ll never hurt me like Satine did? And that you won’t leave me like Kortney did?” 

“I… I promise, Mama.” But it felt wrong. That didn’t stop Bo from saying it whenever she asked. She even let her mother pull her close and kiss the top of her head. 

“Your sister…” Her mother sighed and looked down.

“Is she going to marry…” Bo paused and tried to remember the name. “Obi-Wan?” Was that it? It sounded right.

Her mother rolled her eyes and gave a Bo a look like she had asked the stupidest question in the history of the galaxy. “Bo-Katan, he’s a Jedi.” 

Bo stared at her. 

“Jedi don’t have attachments and they don’t get married.” She sighed and stood up, folding her arms over her chest. “They’re not supposed to have children either but…” She shrugged and then rearranged some things on the end table. “I guess they don’t care about being honorable. Why is that not surprising?” 

Bo didn’t know what to say about any of this. She didn’t understand a lot of it. She just knew the Jedi were the Mandalorians enemy usually and they did bad things. But for some reason Satine liked some of them? 

“Why does Satine love one of them?” Bo asked, looking at her mother. “If they’re all bad?” Bo loved Satine, and this didn’t make sense. Shouldn’t she not be doing bad things if she was a good person? So why was she in love with a Jedi, and why did she always say the Jedi was good? 

Couldn’t he only be bad? 

Her mother shook her head. “Satine doesn’t really love him. At least I hope not. She’s just…” She sighed and sat next to Bo-Katan. “Your sister was going through a lot then and I’m sure that the Jedi took advantage of her and now she is convinced she loves him.” 

“But…” 

“Trust me on this, Bo-Katan,” her mother said. She pulled her close and for a moment, Bo felt happy. Maybe this was how Satine felt like. Their mother had always been so nice to her. Well, until she got pregnant.

Bo was still confused on how that whole thing happened, but when Bo asked her mom about it, she had stared at her and not said anything. Why couldn’t someone help make this less confusing? 

But they never explained it, so she was left in the dark. 

About a month went by and she didn’t see Satine. She wanted to talk about what happened, but before she went to school every day, her mother would grip her arm tightly and tell her she would be in huge trouble if she as much as uttered a word about what was going on.

So Bo did what her mother wanted and would stay silent. Sometimes teachers and other people would ask about her sister and she wouldn’t say anything.

Bo tried to act like it didn’t matter if she saw Satine. She tried to be the good daughter that her mother wanted, but she kept thinking about her sister and she kept thinking about how her sister would be having a baby. Would the baby be evil? Maybe it would kill Satine when it was born and do… she didn’t know… bad things? But what if it was good? 

It was so confusing. 

Bo tried to ask her mother questions over that month but she didn’t give her good answers and so she continued to be confused. She missed Orie, Tia, and Lottie. They would tell her the truth. Right? But her mother wouldn’t. 

So Bo was left in the dark. 

Today she was playing outside alone since her mother wouldn’t let have any friends over. The other day she had friends over and they had hit each other a lot with the fake swords and also with the toy blasters. At one point, one of the other kids had accidentally hit her in the face and now she had a bruise on her cheek.

Her mother had not been pleased so now she was supposed to play nice peaceful games that were more suitable for a lady. She decided the best thing would be to hit the side of the house with a toy sword. She pretended it was an evil enemy she had to defeat.

This got boring fast given the house didn’t move. 

So she went to the swing after that. That was when Satine showed up. Bo jumped off the swing, landing on her feet, and ran over to her sister. She hugged her sister tightly. 

“You finally came back,” Bo said, running into her sister’s arms. She somehow just looked different to Bo. 

“Yes, I did.” Satine knelt down and looked in Bo’s eyes. That was when she frowned and touched Bo’s cheek. “What happened to you?” 

“I got hit,” Bo said, cheerfully. She didn’t think the bruise was that bad and bruises were good because it meant that she was tough.

But Satine must not have thought so because her eyes widened and she made a weird choking noise. 

“What do you mean? Who did this?” Satine asked. 

“I—” 

“Relax, Satine,” their mother said. How long had she been listening for? “Do you really think that I would do that to Bo-Katan? Do you really think I would bruise my own daughter?” 

“I… I didn’t say that.” Satine huffed and stood up, putting her hands on her hips. “That’s not what I said at all.” 

“You implied it.” 

“Mama didn’t hit me. Not this time,” Bo said cheerfully. 

Satine’s eyes somehow got even wider than before. She looked at Bo and then at their mother. She wasn’t happy. Bo needed to explain better. 

“She only hits me sometimes,” Bo said, touching a strand of her red hair. She twisted it around her finger.

“Stars, Bo!” their mother said. “I’ve only slapped Bo-Katan before. You know that, Satine. You two are trying to make me look like some kind of monster. Her friend hit her in the face. You should know I wouldn’t have done this.” Their mother sighed. “I wouldn’t put bruises on my daughter.” 

But a few times when Bo’s mother had grabbed her wrist she had left little fingerprint bruises on her arm. Bo would poke at them when that happened. 

“And Bo-Katan’s going to be fine, but she and her friends do need to stop playing such violent games,” their mother said. “I keep telling Bo that she should play games that are more appropriate for the little sister of Mandalore’s first real peaceful ruler.” 

But then they wouldn’t be as much fun so Bo just rose an eyebrow. 

“She… She didn’t?” Satine looked at Bo. Bo didn’t know if she meant it to sound like a question or not. 

“Mama didn’t hit me.” Bo paused and then was tempted to hug her sister again. She had missed her a lot after all but the Jedi…

Bo’s mother grabbed her arm and pulled her backward. 

“She shouldn’t hit you ever,” Satine said. “I… How am I supposed to trust you if…?” She looked down at Bo and then back at their mother. “I just…” Satine rubbed her face. She had bags under her eyes. Bo could tell that she tried to hide them with makeup, but she could still see them. 

Their mother had a weird look in her eyes. “Fine, fine, Satine. I won’t slap Bo-Katan anymore.” 

Really? This didn’t sound like her mother at all. 

“Really?” Satine asked, sounding just as shocked as Bo was. 

“Yes, you’re the Duchess of Mandalore.”

Bo tilted her head to the side. That didn’t normally stop her mom from doing whatever she wanted even if Satine wouldn’t like it. Maybe her mother was lying. 

“I can’t believe you think I would do this to Bo-Katan.” Their mother shook her head. “Do you think it looks good to have one child with a bruise on her face and another daughter pregnant with a Jedi’s child?”

“No one knows I’m pregnant, Mother.” She gritted her teeth together. “And they especially don’t know that the baby’s father is a Jedi.” 

Hmmm. Bo had told a few of her friends. Maybe she shouldn’t have done that. Oops. She thought about mentioning it, but she stopped herself. Hopefully they would forget. 

“Eventually people will figure it out.” She motioned to what Satine was wearing. “You can wear all sorts of outfits to hide that you’re pregnant, but some will discover it.” 

“It… Well, I’m make sure as few of people do as possible.” She sighed.

Their mother looked at her and actually smiled for a second. Why was she smiling? “So you’re not going to contact the Jedi and see if the two of you can get married and live some happily ever after?” 

“I—” 

“You know doing that would be kriffing Mandalore over? You want to cause more social unrest?” 

“Mother!” Satine sighed and shook her head. Her face softened. “I… We need to talk…” 

Their mother examined her like she was a hard puzzle. Bo-Katan didn’t like puzzles much. Toy blasters were much more fun. She wanted to practice using real blasters again, but when she had told her mother she had done that before, she hadn’t been happy. So no blasters for Bo. 

When Bo said it wasn’t fair, her mother said that life wasn’t. 

“Fine, Satine. We can talk.” 

Bo looked up at them. Was she supposed to go too? She didn’t want to hear them yell at each other again. But she also needed to prepare if the Jedi was coming here. Maybe she could set up some traps so he could not get them.

Really really bad traps. Ones that would make him regret causing her sister to be pregnant with a Jedi child. Maybe she could put some glass on the ground so he would step on it. No, that was too nice. She had to make sure they would keep him away forever. 

“Why do you have such a weird look, Bo-Katan?” their mother asked, but she didn’t give Bo a chance to tell her the great idea. “You wait outside when I talk to your sister.” 

“You’re not going to yell, right?” Bo tilted her head to the side. Satine might have done a bad thing, but she didn’t want them to yell at each other. Even if Satine was going to have a child who may or may not be evil. 

She needed to figure that out. 

“No, we’re not going to yell. I don’t yell,” their mother said, which was a lie. She yelled sometimes. She had yelled the last time she saw Satine. “And don’t you dare think about spying on us, Bo-Katan or…” Satine gave their mother a look. “Or I’ll take away all your toy blasters.” 

What?! Bo stomped her foot. That wasn’t fair and she had been planning on spying on them. 

Her mother gave her a look, but she didn’t say anything else and went in the house with Satine. She couldn’t risk losing her toy blasters. She would die of boredom. For awhile she swung on the swing and then she went closer to the house. She should try to find a way to get on the roof. She and Lottie used to climb on roofs sometimes. If she could get on the roof, she could see everything better and that would help her come up with a plan if the Jedi attacked.

There was a tree near their house. Their mother had it planned because she thought that it was cute. Bo didn’t know how a tree was cute, but maybe it could help her. She ran over to the tree as fast as she could. It was important to be fast when you were a warrior. Then Bo started to climb. It wasn’t like the trees on Krownest, but maybe it would be okay. She was getting higher and higher, but still it wasn’t enough. 

The roof was far away. Bo didn’t think she could jump that far, but maybe she could. Maybe….

And then her mother and Satine came outside. Her mother scrunched her face whereas Satine gave her a look. 

“Where’s Bo-Katan? Mother, you—” 

“Don’t you dare blame me for this. She was just outside and there isn’t anything dangerous around here. You’re going to learn that you can’t be around your child all the time, Satine, and—” 

That was when Bo-Katan jumped down from the tree, landing in front of them. She landed perfectly and couldn’t help but be proud of it. 

Her mother stared at her and opened her mouth to say something but then Satine laughed. 

“You had the high ground,” Satine said and she giggled again. What was so funny? Obviously she had the high ground before. She had been in a tree. Yet Satine kept laughing about it. 

“Mama, I need a jetpack,” Bo said, matter-of-factly. That would help her get to the roof. 

“Why would you need a…” their mother shook her head. “Never mind. Never mind. You’re not getting a jetpack, Bo-Katan.” 

Satine finally finished laughing and then hugged Bo-Katan tightly. “I have some good news—” 

“You can’t marry the Jedi!” Bo-Katan almost yelled. Maybe tricking Satine into marrying him was part of the Jedi’s plan to… she wasn’t sure… do evil things?

The happiness from Satine’s face vanished. 

“Bo, don’t mention that,” their mother said. “Satine’s… Satine knows she has to do what’s right for Mandalore and that she would be hurting her… friend… if she told him. He’s after all a… He would get in trouble.” She stared at Satine again as if she was trying to drill holes in her with her eyes. “And Satine wouldn’t want his life to be ruined like this or hers.” 

“My life isn’t ruined!” Satine said. 

“Yes, because we’re going to make sure it doesn’t.” 

“It doesn’t matter what’s right for me.” Satine looked away into the distance. “I have to do what’s right for Mandalore. For our people.” 

There was a long silence.

“I think me having a jetpack is what’s right for Mandalore.” Bo smiled. “And our people.” 

No one even looked at Bo despite that this was a good reason to have one. 

“You’re going to have a little nephew or niece though, Bo-Katan,” their mother said. “But if anyone asks, you can’t say that it’s Satine’s. You can’t mention that she’s pregnant. I know you’re good at keeping secrets.” 

“Okay,” Bo-Katan said, even though she wasn’t sure she wanted a niece or nephew. “Is the baby going to be evil?” 

Their mother groaned. “The baby’s not going to be evil. It’s just going to be a baby.” 

Why was her mother acting like that had been a stupid question? It had been a very good one.  
“Yes, he or she is going to love you,” Satine said. She knelt down and pulled Bo into a hug. “He or she is so lucky to have an aunt like you.”

“Is the baby going to have force powers?” Bo-Katan asked. “Is he or she going to be a Jedi?” 

“They’re not going to be a Jedi,” Satine said. “Really it’s not right how Jedi are sent away from their families when they’re younger than you, Bo.” 

“And they’re not going to be force sensitive. The baby will be Mandalorian and Mandalorian are not force—” 

“Tarre Vizsla was,” Satine said. “And—” 

“Please stop.” Their mother clutched her head. “And I swear if I never hear the name Vizsla again, I’ll be happy.” 

Vizsla? That sounded like a space ship name. Not a good ship though. An ugly one. Bo didn’t know any Vizslas, or at least she didn’t think so but…

“You don’t need to worry about the Vizslas anymore, Mother. They’re under control.” Satine rested her hand on her stomach. “I have something more important to tell you and Bo anyway.” 

“What?” their mother asked. 

Bo hoped it was that she was going to get a jetpack after all. Or maybe the actual Darksaber. That would be nice too.

“I’ve decided on names for the baby,” Satine said, still holding her stomach. 

“You should name it Jetpack!” Bo said, right away. “Or Darksaber.” Both were very good names. If Bo ever had kids, she would name them that. 

“Those aren’t names, Bo-Katan!” their mother exclaimed.

Why weren’t they? They seemed very good. Very Mandalorian too, which was important. 

“I’m going to name him Korkie if it’s a boy and Kortney if it’s a girl. After—” 

Satine didn’t get to finish because that was when their mother actually started crying. 

Bo still thought Darksaber was a better name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It's one of my last before a time jump. Please comment if you want! Thank you again!


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The baby is born. Will he be up to evil Jedi things? Who knows!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this chapter, I will be jumping ahead some years. I haven't decided how many, but I'm going to today. I'm excited and I hope you enjoyed little Bo and will enjoy middle grade aged Bo. This story isn't done yet though, but I wanted to mention that.

The next few months went by fast. Bo turned six finally but it didn’t matter because the only thing that their mom and Satine cared about now were babies. Bo was so tired of hearing about babies. Babies weren’t even that interesting. Not like jetpacks or the Darksaber, but when she mentioned this her mother would shake her head.

“You should hope that the baby doesn’t end up like this one, Satine. She’s going to put me in an early grave.” 

What? That wasn’t fair or nice. Just because she didn’t like talking about babies wasn’t bad. If anything it was good because babies were boring. 

Bo glared at them but then grabbed one of her toy ships and ran it over the floor in the main room. Their mother and Satine were sitting by each other on the couch because they were close again. Satine had been staying with them for the most part. Apparently it was because then less people were likely to find out she was pregnant. 

Bo wanted her sister to defend her but she didn’t.

“There is something we need to talk about,” her mother said. Bo looked up and saw her mother chew on her lip. Her mother never did that. Weird. “About… succession.”

Bo didn’t know what that meant.

“Seriously, Mother?” Satine sighed and stood up. “You really want to talk about this now?”

“Well no one else will with you because they don’t know you’re pregnant.” 

“And so nothing is changing at least right now but about this topic so—“

“You can’t take away Bo-Katan’s birthright because of the baby. The baby…” their mother paused considering her words. What did she mean by Bo’s birthright? “Well, one day people might find out who the father is.”

“Like I said, I’m not discussing this,” Satine said. 

“I don’t want to rule Mandalore,” Bo said since she thought that might be what they were discussing. She wasn’t entirely sure though either. They could be talking about some other boring thing. 

“You should be concerned about inheritance. Satine, you… you never know what might happen. Kortney…” 

“I’m not going to end up like Kortney, Mother,” Satine said. “I promise that I’m not going to end up like Kortney. You’re not going to have to lose another child.” 

Their mother smiled weakly and put her hand on Satine’s shoulder. Satine smiled but pulled away from their mother and took Bo’s hands. “The baby’s moving, Bo. Do you want to feel him or her?” 

Bo paused but then nodded and Satine put her hand on her stomach. At first Bo didn’t feel anything and then the baby kicked. It was so strange. She thought it would be weak but her sister would be having the baby soon so it wasn’t. She could even see the outline of the baby’s foot when she moved her hand. 

Bo stared and then giggled. “That’s so weird.” 

Satine smiled. “It is, but it’s also… kind of wonderful.” She sighed. “Well, at least when he or she isn’t keeping me up at night.” 

*** 

The baby was born a month later. Bo had been left with a babysitter when her sister was having the baby and she was told not to mention anything about it. She just wanted to see the baby, even though she was still worried that the baby might be evil. She had told this to Satine many times, but it would just annoy her and she would make comments about how babies weren’t evil and that the Jedi wasn’t going to show up and kill them all. 

Bo had still been preparing just in case.

But then her mother came back and as soon as the babysitter left, her mother wouldn’t stop talking about how perfect the baby was. How he was the most beautiful baby she had ever seen. He. Apparently, the baby was a boy after all. Satine had been right. 

“I always wanted a son,” she said. “I’m glad he’s a boy. When I was pregnant with you, I was hoping you would be a boy, Bo-Katan.” She sighed, but grinned. “But now I have a grandson.” 

Bo didn’t say anything. Mother kept talking about how she wanted to go see the baby again right away and how it had been so hard to leave, but she also said that they would go first thing in the morning. That night Bo tossed and turned. She kept thinking about the baby and that if the Jedi was going to show up, now would be the time. 

He could kill them and take the baby and make it be a Jedi and bad. Bo tried to come up with a plan, but she hadn’t been able to get her traps ready yet. She had wanted to get a flamethrower, but when she asked her mother, she had shaken her head and muttered under her breath. 

“How do you even know about flamethrowers?” her mother asked. 

Bo shrugged. She just did.

Eventually Bo stopped tossing and turning and fell asleep. However, her dreams were filled with nightmares. In them the Jedi would return, Bo would try her best to defend all of them. Not just Satine and their mother, but also the baby. The baby who looked just like Satine in the dreams. He would look at her, and she just knew that if she didn’t do something then he would die. 

But nothing she did made a difference. 

Nothing.

Bo woke up gasping for breath. She clutched her blanket. The owl Satine had given her a few months back was watching her. Judging. The owl that apparently the Jedi had helped pick. 

Bo glared at it. She stepped out of bed and was about to maybe get rid of the thing, which seemed to be spying on her, but then her mother came in the room. She was grinning and grabbed Bo’s hand. “Are you ready to meet your little nephew, Korkie? He’s looking forward to meeting you.” 

Somehow, she doubted that because he was a tiny baby, but she didn’t say anything. Her mother made her wear a dress, even though Bo still didn’t like them. It was actually the same owl dress that her sister had thrown up on, but the vomit stain was gone somehow. The dress didn’t fit her as well now. She must have gotten taller. 

But her mother didn’t even seem to care. 

Almost as soon as she got that on, she dragged Bo off to the speeder without even letting Bo have breakfast, which was bad because she was hungry. Bo tried to tell her mother that, but she ignored her. This wasn’t fair.

“You know your sister didn’t even want to go to the hospital,” her mother said with a sigh as she looked at Bo. “She wanted to do it at the house.” 

Bo shrugged. “I’m hungry, Mama.” She didn’t really care about the story about the baby. She had been there and she knew her sister had been in pain. It seemed really, really bad, even though her sister didn’t scream or anything. 

Mother sighed and then she handed her a candy bar. Bo quickly opened it and crammed half of it in her mouth. 

“I just wanted to make sure nothing went wrong,” Mother said. 

“Nothing would go wrong. Satine is strong.” Not as strong as Bo, but that was because she didn’t try to be. “And the baby probably is too.” That was good as long as it wasn’t evil like a Jedi. 

Her mother glanced at her for a moment. “I remember when you were born. You were early and so small. Some people didn’t think you would make it, but I knew you would. You were a fighter even then. All Mandalorian.” 

Bo had never heard this story before. Her mom didn’t talk about when she had been a baby much, and Bo wanted to ask some questions, but she didn’t get a chance because they arrived at the hospital. Her mother gripped her hand and pulled her away, not even letting anyone have a good look at them.

“If anyone asks why we’re here, say that your sister had an operation,” her mother said.

“What kind?” Bo asked. “What kind of operation did—” 

“Just don’t say anything. Let me do all the talking. No one should say anything to you anyway, Bo-Katan.” 

“But I—” 

“Just listen to me and don’t say anything.” 

Bo pouted which caused people to look at them. Her mother glared at her obviously thinking that she was acting like a brat. Bo didn’t care and just followed her mother through the hospital until they got to Satine’s room. There Satine was lying in a hospital bed and she was holding a baby swaddled in a blanket. 

She couldn’t see the baby well, but he was super small. 

“Satine!” Their mother said as she went over and kissed Satine on the cheek. “How are you?” She grinned. “I see little Korkie is just as perfect as always.” 

Perfect? Bo doubted the baby was perfect. She needed to get a good look at him and then maybe she could tell if he was Jedi. She would have to keep an eye on him to make sure that he didn’t do bad Jedi things. She wasn’t entirely sure what that was, but she’d know when she saw it. 

“He is,” Satine said. She smiled in a weird soft way at the baby. 

Bo stood on her tiptoes trying to get a good look. 

“You can come see him, Bo,” Satine said. “Come over here.” 

Bo paused, but then walked over, prepared if the baby decided to do any weird Jedi things. But then she saw him. He really was little. So little, but he looked… well, not like Satine though, but he was so cute. And his hair.

“Look, he has red hair!” Bo reached out and touched it. It was so fine and soft. 

“Yes, he does,” Satine said, adjusting him in her arms. 

“Just like me!” Bo liked this. She liked this a lot. He had red hair like her so that was a good sign. Maybe he would turn out just like her. That would be good. She could train him to be a warrior and one day when she got a jetpack, she could teach him to use it. 

“Obi-Wan also—” Satine tried to say. 

“He has red hair so he’ll be like me!” Bo exclaimed. 

“He’ll probably out grow that hair. Lots of babies do,” Mother said. 

“But Bo had red hair as a baby and she still does.” Satine looked at Bo. “You should hold him.” 

Before Bo even got the chance to say if she wanted to or not, Satine put him in her arms. She made sure that Bo was holding him all right, but then she moved her hand away so Bo was the only one holding him. 

At first Bo didn’t even know what to do. He looked so fragile. What if she dropped him and he broke? He didn’t look like a Jedi so he must be good. 

And then the baby made a cooing noise. He liked Bo! She grinned so wide that it hurt. And then she did something she never did. She kissed the baby on the forehead. 

“Aww,” Satine said, putting her hand over her heart. 

Even their mother made a weird nose. “That’s so precious, Bo-Katan. I didn’t know you could be sweet.” 

Bo just smiled. She liked Korkie and she just knew that he would turn out like her. 

Well, that didn’t happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you all enjoyed this!


	16. Part 2: Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry in advance for any typos!

Years went by and now Bo-Katan was thirteen. Of course, Korkie didn’t end up just like Bo, even though she had hoped he would. She had even spent a lot of time with him when he was little. At first anyway, but he had been a baby and they weren’t super interesting. He wasn’t super interesting now, even though she still liked him when he wasn’t getting in her stuff and just doing things he wasn’t supposed to. 

Korkie was obsessed with Satine. He had been when he was a baby, and he was even now, despite that he didn’t know she was his mom and thought she was his “auntie.” Whenever Satine came over, he would follow her around and ask her all sorts of questions. She would bring him presents and he would sit on her lap and smile. 

Bo couldn’t even really talk to Satine much when Korkie was there because of how obsessed he was her. Eventually she didn’t care as much, but she still missed her sister, not that she would admit it. But Korkie was… okay… 

“Aunt Bo,” Korkie said as he came into her room without permission. He was hugging his stuffed owl. It was the one Bo had seen in her sister’s room all those years ago, not the one that she had gotten. “Aunt Bo, I’m gonna miss you.” He went over to her helmet and put it on his head. It didn’t fit him at all, and it reminded her of when she had been really little like him and wore it too.

Bo took it off him and put it in her suitcase. She regretted doing that as soon as she did. Korkie could be a little rat. He would probably tell Mom and then she would make her not bring it. Not that Bo would let that happen. When she visited Orie, Tia, and Lottie that was the time she got the most practice. 

Yes, she was in some self-defense classes and even a fencing one at the Royal Academy, but it wasn’t enough. She didn’t want to just be… like Satine… she wanted to actually be able to do something. 

She took out the helmet and smiled at him. Or at least she did until she saw that he had gone to her drawers and was opening those. He got to one that was locked and pulled out it, frowning. No! He shouldn’t be messing with those. She had blasters in that. He couldn’t get in there, but if he told her mom she would want to look and see what she was hiding. 

Normally she didn’t have them here. She usually stayed at the Royal Academy now. Her roommate was nice and liked blasters too, not that she had any. They would go shooting. If the teachers found out they had them, well… maybe they wouldn’t get expelled because they were Mandalorians but they would be in trouble. 

And Bo’s mother would throw a fit and go on and on about how she was embarrassing Satine. How she was embarrassing their whole family. Bo glared at the wall at the thought of it. 

“What’s in here?” Korkie asked, pulling on it again. 

“Socks,” Bo said, saying the first thing that came to mind. Well, second thing. She thought about saying a diary, but then her mother would look. Bo would never have been stupid enough to keep a diary. Her mother would have read it and used it against her.

Korkie frowned and then went over to her bed and jumped on it. “I want to go with you to Knownest.” 

“Krownest.” 

He jumped even higher. “Jump with me, Bo.” 

Doing that would be really childish. The kind of thing her mother was always complaining about her doing. But it also sounded a bit like fun. So she grinned and actually did get on the bed and jumped on it with her nephew. He giggled and grabbed her hands. 

“Help me go higher!” Korkie said. 

Bo was about to grab him and throw him slightly, but that was when her mother walked in and made a tsking noise. Korkie stopped and ran over to her, hugging her tightly. Bo just quit jumping and sat on the edge of her bed. 

“Grandma, can I go with Bo?! Bo told me about snow Mandalorians and ice skating and—” 

“You don’t want to go with her, ad’ika.” Her mother ruffled Korkie’s strawberry blond hair. 

When Korkie had been born, Bo thought that he looked like her, but now he really didn’t. He didn’t even look that much like Satine. He had to look like his father, the Jedi. Not that Bo could remember how he looked. She closed her eyes and tried to remember, but she couldn’t. It had been too long ago. She couldn’t even see a faded image of him in her head.

“It will be boring there. You don’t want to spend your summer vacation there like Bo does,” her mother said. Korkie let go of her and smiled. Maybe he did have Satine’s smile. 

“Yeah, really boring.” It was more boring here, but she wasn’t going to say that. “And besides then you wouldn’t be able to see Auntie Satine.” 

“Auntie Satine!” Korkie said, grinning.

Bo’s mother smiled and picked up her grandson who she kissed on the forehead. “She’s going to come over later.” 

“Really?” Korkie and Bo asked together. No one had told Bo anything like this. Usually, she was told in advance. Even though Satine was her sister, sometimes her mother tried to convince her to wear dresses and look more “presentable” when she came over, whatever that meant. 

“Yes, but you’ll be gone by then, Bo-Katan, so you better finish up packing.” She put Korkie on the floor and then took his hand. “Shay’s going to come and get you so you need to be ready to leave.” She walked with Korkie to Bo-Katan’s bedroom door and then turned around. “Oh, and don’t jump on the bed. You’re not a child anymore.” 

Bo didn’t even bother waiting for her mother to turn her back to roll her eyes. She didn’t say anything though and left her alone. Bo finished packing making sure to put the blasters and the rest of her armor in there. Hopefully her mother wouldn’t be acting crazy and want to check her bags. She had done that once when she was going to Krownest. Luckily, that had been the one time she hadn’t brought something her mother wouldn’t approve of. 

No, instead that time Bo had her knives on her thankfully.

Luckily this time her mother didn’t check either, more worried about Korkie who was playing with some of the many toys Satine had spoiled him with. Shay wasn’t here yet, which was unfortunate, but then Bo got an idea. 

“Korkie, want to play a game?” Bo said as she went over to him. She grabbed one of his toy balls off the floor. 

“What’s the game?” Korkie asked, looking at the ball. It wasn’t one of his favorite toys since Satine hadn’t given it to him, which automatically made it not as good.

“The game is called Jedi powers,” Bo-Katan said. She sat down across from Korkie. “What you need to do is try to take the ball away from me with your mind.” 

“Bo-Katan, what’s gotten into you?!” Mom said, shaking her head. “You know Korkie can’t do that.” 

She rolled her eyes. It had been late and she had been very tired, but she was pretty sure she had seen him do something like that when he had been younger. A toddler. It had almost scared her at first. After all, she didn’t want him to be like the Jedi who she had studied. But Korkie wouldn’t be like them. He wasn’t being brainwashed by them.

Korkie was glaring at the ball probably in an attempt to move it. He made a small noise and reached his hand out. 

Nothing. 

“You can do it, Korkie!” Bo said. 

And then Mom knocked the ball out of her hand. “Don’t be ridiculous. Bo-Katan. Your nephew isn’t some Jedi.” 

Bo sighed and ignored her mother who was always trying to ruin her fun. It was like her mother was allergic to fun. She probably was. “We can play another game, Korkie. It’s called Jedi mind trick.” Part of her was doing this to just annoy her mother. She hated when she mentioned the Jedi around Korkie. “It’s called Jedi mind trick. With this game, you’re going to tell Grandma that she needs to give me some money.” 

Korkie looked at Bo’s mom. “You need to give Bo some money.”

“Bo-Katan, stop that nonsense,” her mother said. “I liked it better when you were afraid of the Jedi.” 

Oh, Bo was sure she did. 

“And those kind of tricks don’t work on me anyway,” Mother said. “I was trained on how to resist them when I was younger.” 

Interesting. Bo had never heard that before. Her mother could be lying. If not, this was something Bo-Katan wanted to learn. 

“I believe in you, Korkie, even if grandma doesn’t. I know you can do it.” 

“Grandma, you will give Bo-Katan money,” Korkie said. For a moment, he sounded serious and then he laughed. “Grandma!” 

Mother didn’t laugh and she went over to Bo and pulled her up by her hair. Bo tried not to even flinch, but she did make a growling noise. 

“Grandma, you can’t do that! I’m going to tell Auntie Satine!” Korkie said. 

Bo’s mother’s eyes widened and she let go of Bo. That was one thing that always got her mother to stop whatever she was doing that she shouldn’t. She was terrified Satine would decide to take Korkie away from her, either to raise herself or just to find someone else. 

“Your aunt’s fine. Aren’t you, Bo-Katan?” 

“Maybe,” Bo said, but then when she saw her mom’s face, she decided to change her story. “Yes, I’m fine.” 

“See, your aunt is great and so you don’t want to bother Auntie Satine with something like this. She’s a very busy woman.” 

“She’s the best.” Korkie said. 

“Yes, she is,” Mom said. And then she grabbed Bo and pulled her away from Korkie slightly. Great, now she was going to get lectured. “You need to stop bringing up the Jedi to Korkie.” She glanced over at him. He had gone back to playing and didn’t even look at them. “He might ask questions when he’s older.” 

She shrugged. “Satine will probably tell him the truth eventually.” 

Her mother’s eyes widened. “She wouldn’t do such a thing. She… She wouldn’t.” 

Yes, she probably would. Satine loved Korkie and she probably hated that she hadn’t told him that she was actually his mom. One day Korkie might start to suspect that and then Satine would probably tell him the whole truth. 

Bo shrugged. 

“Just stop talking to him about the Jedi. Okay, Bo-Katan?”

“Fine, but Satine doesn’t mind when I do it, and she’s actually Korkie’s…” She hesitated because of the look her mother was giving her. It would be smart to be quiet. Smart but not as fun. “She’s actually his mom,” she whispered the last part. 

Which was probably one of the only reasons that her mother didn’t do anything. Well, that and Korkie would tell Satine if he thought Mom was too mean and also because Shay came in just then. 

Bo didn’t stay there much longer. It would be so good to get away from her mother and school and everything. She didn’t know how she would have been able to handle a whole summer vacation with her mother. It would almost be better to just stay at school, even though most subjects were boring. She mostly liked history and PE, especially when they actually got to do some fighting. 

But being on Krownest would be better. 

On their way, Shay actually let her fly the ship for a short time. Though Shay kept shaking her head and biting her lip as if she was worried that Bo would do something horribly wrong. 

“You’re not landing it,” Shay said, taking over the controls from Bo. 

“But landing’s one of the most important parts.” 

“And one of the hardest.” She gave her a look and then a forced looking smile. “Maybe you can try it when we fly back to Mandalore.” 

Somehow, she doubted she would let her, but Bo still nodded. 

Bo had barely stepped out of the ship once they landed when Lottie came running over to her. She pulled her in a hug. “I missed you so much, Bo-Katan.” She let go and looked at her. “You’re so freakishly tall now.” 

Great.

“And you’re still just as short as always.” 

Bo wasn’t even that tall. She still wasn’t as tall as Satine, even though it looked like she would eventually be taller than her. 

“Short is good. I’m pocket sized.” 

Bo rolled her eyes and smiled. The girls and Shay went to see Tia and Orie and Bo was almost as happy to see them. This summer would be good. 

*** 

For the first few weeks, Bo spent almost all her time with Lottie and when she didn’t, she was around Tia and Orie. A few times, they went to town without even Orie and Tia. That was when the two of them found out that apparently there would be celebration near the Wren Stronghold.

Lottie put her arm around Bo’s waist. She had always been touchier than her. “We should convince Tia and Orie to let us go.” 

“Would we be invited even?” Bo asked. 

Lottie sighed and rolled her eyes. “Bo-Katan, you’re a Kryze. Of course, you can be invited.” 

Bo didn’t know about that, but she would like to see Ursa again, even though she probably would be too old and cool to want to talk to her now. Bo had come to Krownest the last few years, but she only saw Ursa a few times each summer. Each summer she saw her less. 

But Bo would still remember how nice she had been to her when she had come to Krownest during the war and she had helped save Lottie.

“I’m not some nobody either,” Lottie said. This was something Bo stayed quiet about when she was around her mother. She didn’t think Satine would have cared, but her mother was weird about certain houses and clans. Satine was more forgiving if people were willing to change.

Bo thought it was even stranger now that Lottie’s family had sent her away during the war. But apparently her parents were always worried about her. Or at least they had been then. Now they accepted that Lottie was a warrior. 

She shrugged. “I don’t know if…” Then she saw Lottie’s face drop. She didn’t want to be boring like Satine. “Fine, we should see if we can go. It’ll be fun.” She had never actually been to the Wren Stronghold anyway, and she was curious. 

Lottie grinned. 

“I have someone I want you to meet in a few days too,” Lottie said. “Don’t worry. It’s before the celebration so we’re not going to be in danger of missing that.” 

“You’re the one who would be worried about that.” Bo looked at some baked goods that were being displayed in a window. Macarons and macaroons. Tasty. It would have been nice if Korkie actually could have convinced her mom to give her money. 

“Maybe we can sneak some Ne'tra gal or Tihaar.” Lottie’s eyes lit up. “Or I can. You’re still little, even if you’re as tall as a wookiee.”

“I’m not that tall and I’m only a few years younger than you,” Bo said. “So who do you even want me to meet?”

“Not supposed to say,” Lottie said. “But I’ve told them a lot about you and they can help us become better fighters. Plus, he had the best weapon.” 

“I doubt that.” The best weapon was the Darksaber and Bo wasn’t sure she’d ever see that in person, even if it was a cool thought. There was still a big part of her that would have loved to have it one day. Not to rule Mandalore, but just because it was an amazing weapon. All lightsabers were, but the Darksaber was special. 

“You’ll see,” Lottie said, grinning. 

Despite Lottie’s excitement, Bo didn’t think too much about the person she wanted her to meet the next few days. Instead, she practiced her shooting mostly. Orie got her some history books too and let her read them. She found it interesting to read about all the wars Mandalore had fought it during the past. She mostly liked military history, but all of it was almost like a story. A story that actually happened. 

Lottie laughed at her when she said that.

*** 

The next day, Lottie shook her awake. Bo shot up, almost colliding with her, but Lottie easily dodged her. She laughed. “We need to get going.” 

Bo looked at the window and saw it was still dark. Lottie must not be feeling right. “We don’t have to do anything. It’s still sleeping time.” 

Lottie hit her with something. A pillow. “Don’t be lazy. We need to go meet them now.” 

At first Bo didn’t even know what she was talking about. Then she remembered. 

“I can meet them later,” Bo said, covering her face with her pillow. 

“Oh come on.” Lottie hit her with the pillow again. “Don’t be boring, Bo-Katan. You don’t want to be like your sister.” 

Bo had been complaining about Satine last night and how she was perfect and everyone loved her. Bo could never be like that. She knew she had probably sounded like a jealous child. 

“Fine.” Bo forced herself to sit up. “But this better actually be interesting and they actually better have an amazing weapon like you said.” 

“Oh, they do, Bo. They do. That’s one of the main reasons we’re going. We’re going to get them to show us the weapon. We’ll do it if it kills us.” She grinned as her mischievously. “Or if it kills them.”

Okay, what did that mean? 

Still Bo hurried and got ready. She changed out of her night wear and into something for fighting since Lottie had said that he could help them improve. The two of them then snuck out of their room. Since Orie and Tia wouldn’t be happy about them leaving, they had to be careful to avoid stepping on the parts of the floor that creaked. Orie could sleep through anything, but not Tia. 

They managed and got outside without waking either of them. The girls then took off running with Bo following Lottie. It took about twenty minutes, but eventually Lottie stopped them in an area that looked just like most areas in Krownest. Snowy with evergreen trees. There was less snow since it was summer, but it still dusted the grounds. 

“Follow me,” Lottie said and they walked a little bit further to a clearing. It looked like they actually might be used for small ships to park here, but the place was abandoned now. Well except for one ship. 

Bo put her hand on the necklace Satine have given her so many years ago and looked at Lottie. Lottie grinned back at her. 

And that was when he came out of the ship. Just seeing him it was clear he was a warrior, not the kind of person who Satine and their mother liked. A fighter. And he looked somewhat like Lottie with the same blond hair and so similarity in the eyes, but he wasn’t tiny like Lottie. No, he was normal sized. 

With how Lottie had been acting all excited about this person, Bo-Katan thought she would have ran over to him. But instead she grabbed Bo’s arm and pulled her over to him. 

“Lottie, didn’t think you’d actually show,” he said, but he wasn’t looking at her and was instead studying Bo as if she was some kind of puzzle. “And you’re—”

“This is Bo-Katan Kryze. I know you’ve wanted to meet her after all I have told you.” 

Lottie had told him about her? 

“It’s nice to meet you, Lady Kryze,” he said, smirking at her, like it was almost a joke. It did seem like a joke to Bo when people referred to her as that. 

“Bo-Katan, this is my uncle.” 

And that was all it took for Bo to know who he was. Or at least, she thought she did. There were a few people he could be. Stars, her mother would be furious about this. 

Lottie put her arm around her shoulder. “My uncle Pre Vizsla.” 

Years later Bo would wish she had just stayed at Orie and Tia’s that morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to leave comments or kudos! Thank you again for reading!


	17. Chapter 17

Pre Vizsla. It could have been worse. Bo knew that he was one of the people who was loyal to her sister now. He was even the Governor of Mandalore’s moon, Concordia, but her mother still wouldn’t like this. At all. She hated all Vizslas. It didn’t matter who they were. She was convinced that they could never be trusted. 

If she knew about this, she would throw a fit and would think that Pre Vizsla was trying to kidnap Bo-Katan to hurt her sister and her regime. But he was Governor of Concordia so her mother had to just be overreacting, right? 

Bo-Katan stared at Vizsla. She needed to say something, but even if she ignored the whole mother hating Vizslas thing, she still sucked at talking to political figures. Once she had met with one and talked to them about flamethrowers and blasters. She had seemed to like it and had giggled and been friendly, but Bo’s mother had been furious. She had said it was not a good look for the sister of the duchess to talk about weapons. 

Bo wondered how she would screw this meeting up. What she needed to do was act like Satine. Ugh, but that was so hard and boring too. 

Still…

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Governor Vizsla,” Bo said, using her best Satine voice. She thought it was pretty good. Maybe she would have even curtsied if she was wearing a dress, but then again, she was the sister of the duchess so maybe not. 

Lottie stared at her and then broke into laughter. “You sound just like your sister. Stars!” 

Bo huffed and stared at her friend. “How do you know what my sister sounds like?” 

“Everyone in the Mandalore sector knows how she sounds like.” Lottie laughed even more. “I didn’t think you had it in you though, Lady Kryze.” 

Lady Kryze. That still sounded wrong, especially coming from her. 

“Give Lady—”

“Please don’t call me Lady Kryze or Lady Bo-Katan.” Bo rubbed her temples. She didn’t know how much longer she could take that. “You can just call me Bo-Katan.” 

“And you can just call me Pre. Governor Vizsla sounds stuffy.” Pre smiled at the two of them. 

“Lady Kryze? You a lady? What a joke,” Lottie said, still giggling. “Lady Kryze, would you like to—”

“Give Bo-Katan a break, Lottie. She looks like she’s about to attack you.” Pre laughed. “I doubt her sister would do something like this.” 

“No, she wouldn’t, but I’m not my sister,” Bo-Katan said. 

Lottie finally stopped laughing. “Yes, Bo-Katan is much better than her sister.” Lottie put her arm around Bo’s shoulders. “She actually likes blasters, swords, and things like that. She’s a real Mandalorian.” 

Something about this felt weird, but she found herself nodding. “I’m a better shot than Lottie.” 

“You are not! You just used to be.” Lottie moved her arm away. “I’ve gotten a lot better over this past year.” 

“And we went shooting the other day and I was still way better than you,” Bo said. “I’ll always be better than you.” 

“I bet you are better than her, Bo-Katan,” Pre said. “That’s not hard to achieve.” He smirked at his niece who rolled her eyes. “But I could help you get better if you wanted, Bo-Katan. I’m a great shot. I could help both of you.” 

“That would be great, Uncle Pre,” Lottie said. She put her hands on her hips. “And you better, since otherwise why would I have you meet my friend?” Lottie looked at Bo. “He’s been wanting to meet you for awhile. It—” 

“Only because it sounds like she’s a warrior, and her family is important,” Pre said, not even letting Lottie finish. “And she sounds like she is special anyway.” 

No one usually said that Bo was special. Satine was the special one. Bo just shrugged. 

“Uncle, you should show Bo-Katan and me the Darksaber.” 

The Darksaber. Bo couldn’t believe what she had heard at first. But she should have known it was possible. The Darksaber usually was with the Vizslas. Tarre Vizsla had been the one who had created it so many years before. Tarre Vizsla had also been the first and only Mandalorian Jedi. 

He smirked. “You want to see it?” 

Bo tried not to react. The Darksaber. Was she really so close to the weapon she had heard so many legends about? She used to have a toy Darksaber, which she would spend hours playing with, not that she was going to say that right now. No, she wasn’t going to act like a child. 

But the real Darksaber. The real Darksaber was really this close to her. 

“I’ve wanted to see it for years and you never let me,” Lottie said with a pout. “It’s not fair that your enemies get to see it and I don’t. I’m a Vizsla.” 

“Not the Darksaber wielder.” 

“Well maybe I’ll kill you one day and then I will be,” Lottie spat out. “Maybe I will kill you and it can be mine and then I’ll reunite Mandalore.”

Wow… Just wow… Bo’s eyes widened and she looked at her friend, who was staring up at her uncle determined. Bo didn’t like the whole talk of reuniting Mandalore either. Satine was in charge of Mandalore and that was just how it was and how it should be. It didn’t matter who had the Darksaber.

Things weren’t like they used to be. 

“Or you can save me the trouble and let me and Bo-Katan see it now.” 

“Like you would be able to defeat me in combat.” He rolled his eyes. “Your parents are putting too many thoughts in your head.” He smiled. “And Mandalore is fine how it is now, isn’t it, Bo-Katan?” 

Bo bit her lip and nodded. She might not agree with a lot of what her sister did, but she was still her sister, and she was doing okay. Lottie shouldn’t be saying the kind of thing that she was. 

Even killing her uncle. Family was everything to Mandalorians. But she knew her friend and she was sure that she didn’t mean it.

“Do you want to see the Darksaber, Bo-Katan?” Pre was looking at her so intensely. She wanted to cringe, but she didn’t. She tried to stand up straighter. 

“Yes, I wouldn’t mind seeing it,” Bo said, trying not to let too much excitement show in her voice. 

Pre grinned and pulled out a lightsaber, or rather, the Darksaber, and then he ignited it. Bo had seen holographic images of it many times. She had seen countless toys of it and had her own growing up. But it was different than seeing the blade in real life. Power radiated off it. Power and history. 

For a moment, Bo found it hard to even breathe. All she could do was stare at the weapon. 

Pre slowly waved it through the air. “This weapon has killed many throughout history. Many enemies of Mandalore, including Jedi.” He might have smiled at the two girls, but Bo didn’t know. She was only looking at the legendary Darksaber. “And it will kill more enemies of Mandalore in the future.” 

“It’s… It’s amazing,” Bo couldn’t even hide how impressed she was. She had never seen a regular lightsaber in real life, but she knew that it was better than all of those. This was all Mandalorian. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” 

“It’s just a black lightsaber,” Lottie muttered, even though normally she would never say something like that. Usually she seemed to like the Darksaber almost as much as Bo. Almost. Not quite. 

“It’s more than a black lightsaber, Lottie, and you know that.” 

Lottie rolled her eyes. 

“So, Bo-Katan, would you like to hold it?” 

Bo’s eyes widened and she nodded. 

But then Pre turned it off and put it away. “Maybe another time. Wouldn’t want you girls to hurt yourselves.” 

Lottie muttered something under her breath.

“What, Lottie?” he asked. 

“Are you still going to train us?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Bo wished he would bring the Darksaber back out. She wanted to see it again. It hadn’t been out long enough. 

“Do you want me to train you, Bo-Katan?” Pre asked, ignoring Lottie. He went over near Bo and put his hands on her shoulders like what her mother sometimes did with Korkie. 

“She’s not even your niece,” Lottie whined. “I’m the one you should be asking, Uncle Pre.” 

“But I’m asking Bo-Katan,” he snapped. Lottie just responded by rolling her eyes. “So would you like me to train you and Lottie, Bo-Katan?” 

Bo didn’t have to hesitate. “I would. I really would.” 

She wanted to learn more and this was a chance for her to see the Darksaber. Maybe just maybe she would actually be able to hold it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if I missed any typos.

Having Pre train her was different than any other training she had before. Everyone else had always seemed to handle her with kid’s gloves or just weren’t very good or were at the same level as her. Sometimes, even then adults would stop her. Her mother certainly wanted to limit how Bo trained. After all, she wanted her to end up like Satine. Sometimes even people who weren’t supposed to hold back did because of who Bo-Katan was. 

But Pre didn’t. 

If anything that just showed her how she still had a lot to learn, especially when he tried to teach them how to use swords. Something Bo thought that she was always good at. 

At least she did, until she had been knocked down for what felt like the millionth time over the last few weeks. 

“Uncle, you’re being too hard on her,” Lottie said with a pout. She was sitting on a stump as she watched the two of them. She was eating some cotton candy that she had brought with her. They had made it with Orie and Tia last night. Orie and Tia still didn’t know what was going on. Lottie and Bo had taken to lying saying that they were going running in the morning. 

They believed it. 

Pre offered Bo his hand and she let him pull her up. “There’s no such thing.” He looked over at his niece. “Do you think Mandalore’s enemies would go easy on the two of you?” 

“No, they wouldn’t, Lottie,” Bo said, brushing snow and dirt off her outfit. “And I want to be ready. I don’t want someone to go easy on me.” 

Lottie sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, but he doesn’t have to—” 

“I don’t want people to go easy on me. Everyone goes easy on me because of my sister or just because they’re not very good.”

“Does that mean I’m not very good?” Lottie asked. She took another bite of her cotton candy. It was a bright pink and so fluffy. “You’re lucky that he’s not using the Darksaber because—” 

“I don’t want to kill the two of you,” he said. “And you’re not very good, Lottie. Funny, since you think killing me and taking the Darksaber is a good idea.” 

Lottie sighed and rolled her eyes dramatically. “I’m good enough.” Then she muttered something under her breath, which Bo couldn’t completely understand, but sounded like it might be a swear. 

“No, you’re not,” Pre said. “And if you don’t act more like Bo-Katan than you’ll never be good enough to go against even people who aren’t as good as me.” 

Bo tried not to show any kind of reaction, even though she liked being told that she was doing something better than someone else. She didn’t think she would ever get tired of that. 

He went closer to Bo and put his hand on her shoulder. Sometimes, he did this, which was somewhat odd since he never did it for Lottie. It felt almost fatherly or brotherly so Bo wasn’t worried about it. “You know, I could train you alone sometime if you want.” He glanced at his niece. “Lottie doesn’t care as much about preparing to be a warrior for Mandalore.” 

Bo saw Lottie move her mouth in a mimic of what he said when Pre wasn’t looking. 

“That’s… Maybe later, but I want to spend time with Lottie.” In truth, she knew her mother would have fit about this already. And besides, it just seemed weird. “She’s one of my best friends.” 

He rolled his eyes. “That’s nice.” But he didn’t sound like he believed it. 

After awhile Pre had to go do whatever he was really here for and Lottie and Bo-Katan went off on their own to have target practice. The girls were both better at this than swords play.

“Sorry my uncle is such an ass,” Lottie said with a roll of her eyes as she aimed her blaster and then fired. Once the sound had finished echoing in the air she looked at Bo again. “Sometimes I can’t stand him.” 

Bo raised her eyebrows. “If he’s so bad, then why did you have me meet him?” 

“He wanted to meet you,” Lottie said, glancing at her again. “I told him about you and he said something about how it sounded like you had a lot of potential.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s probably just because of who you’re related to. That’s probably the only reason he cares at all.” 

That hurt, but she was probably right so she nodded. She aimed her own blaster and then fired, managing to hit the target. This was something she was good at, even if she could always get better at it too. 

“And he can train us.” She gave Bo a small smile. “I knew you would want to see the Darksaber. I did too. His enemies get to see that weapon more than I do. It’s hardly fair.” 

Bo just nodded. She still wanted to try and hold the Darksaber. She wondered if it was heavy or light. Could you feel its energy and power when you held it? Was it terribly different than regular swords? It had to be, right? She imagined that you would be able to just feel the history of it if you felt it. And feel everything it had caused.

“His training is good. I’m getting better.” 

Lottie studied her and then touched her cheek. “You have a cut on your face. Tia and Orie are going to figure out that we’re not going running.”

“I’ll say I ran into a tree branch.” Bo fired again, concentrating on the smallest target she had set up. She hit it exactly where she wanted to. 

Lottie turned her blaster off. “Let’s go back home now. I want to get ready for the Wrens’ party.” 

Bo thought she might just want to stay and try and train more, but Lottie really wanted to go and maybe it would be fun. Maybe she could see Ursa again or one of her other siblings. She had gotten to know them a little bit over the years, but she didn’t like them as much. 

“Oh, and if my uncle gets too annoying then we can stop having him train us. You wouldn’t be the first person who didn’t like him. My mother hates him.” 

Bo just shrugged. She didn’t think he was that bad, and he was teaching her a lot and that was all that mattered. “Why does your mother hate him?” 

“She just never has liked him,” Lottie said. “But this topic is boring. Let’s go get ready for the Wren’s.” 

Bo nodded. She didn’t know what she had been expecting from the Wrens, but it turned out to be outside near the usually frozen lake. Today, since it was summer, it was thawed, but given it was still cold out here. It appeared like some people were allowed to go inside, but since they hadn’t officially been invited, they weren’t going to. 

Really this party didn’t look that exciting to Bo at all. It was mostly adults drinking, though she did see some other children and teenagers around. There was also music, but it wasn’t the kind that Bo liked and there was no way she would have danced anyway. 

“You know we wouldn’t have to freeze our asses out here if you had just gone over and said who you were,” Lottie complained as she rubbed her arms. 

“You wouldn’t have to freeze if you wore something besides that tiny dress,” Bo said, looking over at Lottie who was wearing a cute little purple dress that went only half way down her thighs.

She raised an eyebrow and then laughed. “But I have to build up my resistance. I have to be able to handle the cold. Otherwise, I’ll get weak.” 

Bo wasn’t sure about that, but she still found herself nodding. 

“We need to have some fun now.” She grinned at Bo and grabbed her hand. “Come on.” She pulled her away to one of the tables where there were shot glasses of alcohol as well as mixed drinks that looked like they might mostly be alcohol. She could tell because of the few political events she went to that served them to adults and just from seeing her mother’s and her friends’ drinks. 

Lottie grabbed two glasses and handed one to Bo. Then she grabbed a shot glass and poured it into Bo’s before grabbing another and doing it for her. Bo didn’t need to wait for her to say anything else and the girls ran off. Lottie laughed and Bo couldn’t help but do that too. 

They ended up sitting by the lake. Part of Bo was tempted to take her shoes off so she could feel them in the water. She knew it would be cold, but she almost didn’t care. 

“I bet your prissy sister wouldn’t like to know you’re drinking,” Lottie said, taking a drink out of hers. She didn’t even wince so maybe it wasn’t that strong. Even though Lottie was a few years older than her, she doubted that she had drank much, but maybe she was wrong. 

Bo rolled her eyes. 

“Are you even going to drink, Bo-Katan?” She dragged out her name so it sounded three times as long. “Or are you going to be boring?” 

“I…” Bo hadn’t been planning on drinking, but whatever. It couldn’t be that bad. She took a big sip out of the drink. Instantly she wanted to cough. It was vile and bitter and harsh, but there was no way that she was going to show weakness in front of Lottie. 

Her face must have given her away though because Lottie laughed and then slapped her back. “Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it.” 

Bo gave her a look and then took another sip, but this one was smaller. Eventually the alcohol started to taste less bad and the world seemed to become less harsh and just happier. At one point, Lottie and Bo grabbed each others hands and spun around over and over again. They spun so fast that both girls fell to the ground. Bo broke into giggles, but Lottie’s face had paled as if she might throw up. 

“What are you two doing?” came a voice. It sounded familiar, but Bo couldn’t place it. She spun around and there was Ursa Wren. 

Bo stared at her and then giggled and went over to hug her. “Ursaaaaaa.” 

Ursa paused but then hugged her back. “Hello, Bo.” 

“I’ve missed you,” Bo said. She still didn’t let go of her, even though Lottie had dropped her arms. “I wasn’t sure I was going to see you because you’re like old and important.” Bo finally let go of her. 

Lottie laced her arm with Bo’s and Bo tried to put her head on her friend’s shoulder, but she was too short. Lottie needed to grow more. 

“Have you both been drinking?” Ursa asked with a sigh. She didn’t wait for them to answer and took away their drinks and dumped them out. 

“You’re no fun, Ursa Wren!” Lottie said, putting her hands on her hips. 

“Bo-Katan’s still—” 

“I’m not little,” Bo said. She was so tired of people saying how she was little. Sometimes the few times she went around the kind of people Satine hung out with they would say how Bo was adorable. And since they needed to get their eyes checked they would also say that she looked like Satine. “I’m thirteen and I’m taller than Lottie. I’m almost taller than Satine.” 

“Yes, but… you two should head home,” Ursa said. 

“Why?” Lottie asked, now standing on her tiptoes.

“Because do you really think it’s a good idea to stay here when an adult could find out? And it’s getting late and the people you stay with are going to get suspicious.” She looked at Bo.

“If adults find us, they might tell my mom,” Bo said. Yes, her mother was on Mandalore and they… weren’t, but her mom might still have the power to find out and then Bo was screwed. “We must leave!”

Bo hugged Ursa again quickly and then took off running, leaving both Lottie and Ursa behind. She giggled as she did. Eventually Lottie caught up to her and the two of them stopped running and just walked. 

“You’re such a lightweight. You barely had one,” Lottie said, but she was the one who kept staggering. Then again, she had more. 

“But you drink all the time.” Bo decided now was a good time to grab Lottie’s hands again. She didn’t know why, but she felt happy and free. No one had told her that drinking could be this fun. Sometimes when her mom drank, she got sad. Bo had been worried that she would be the same way. 

But she was happy. 

They continued back to Tia and Orie’s. Lottie stopped Bo before she could go in. “You need to act normal. Don’t act like you’ve been drinking. Act completely normal.” 

“I will, obviously,” Bo said. Did Lottie think she was stupid?

She sighed and shook her head. “Just let me do the talking, Bo-Katan.” 

She grabbed her hand and pulled her inside. Tia and Orie were waiting right there and instantly Bo knew something was wrong and it wasn’t because she had been drinking.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for any typos I might have missed!

“What? Something’s wrong?” Bo asked, stumbling backward. The alcohol didn’t help and she almost tripped over her own feet and fell down. 

“Oh! Oh, Bo! I don’t know if anything is wrong,” Tia said as she came over to her and pulled her into a hug. “I just know that your mother has sent for you and she said that it was really important. Shay is going to come get you soon.” She brushed a loose strand of Bo’s hair behind her ears. 

“But… But…” Bo tried to think of something to say. 

Lottie gave her a look and pulled her toward her. “Bo, everything is fine. Your mother probably just needs you for some kind of political thing.” 

“She never needs me for any kind of political thing. I’m not important enough for that!” Bo said, her words slurring. “I’m not—” 

“You’re the Duchess’s little sister. Now come on and let’s pack your stuff.” 

Lottie once again tried to pull her away. Bo didn’t know why she wanted her to leave so badly. Oh wait! It had to be because of the alcohol. She was probably still worried that they were going to get in trouble. 

“Girls, wait!” Tia said. She glanced at her husband who rose an eyebrow. “Have you two been drinking?” 

Lottie spun around, letting go of Bo. Bo was about to say something, but Lottie put her hand over her mouth. Rude! That looked suspicious too. 

So Bo licked her hand. Lottie shrieked and gave her a disgusted look but didn’t move her hand. 

“No, of course not.” Lottie moved her hand away from Bo’s mouth and clutched her hands together. “We wouldn’t drink.” 

Tia glared at them, studying them to try and get them to tell the truth. Bo was tempted to just tell them but she didn’t want them to tell Shay who would tell her mother. Her mother might never let her come back and then Bo would die of boredom. 

“Okay, I might have had a little bit to drink, but I’m fifteen, almost sixteen. Bo wouldn’t drink. She’s only thirteen.” 

Please let them believe this. Bo even forced herself to smile and nod. She tried to stand as still as possible and to look… was the word undrunk? No, it was something else. Sober! Yes, the word was sober. 

“I didn’t drink alcohol.” Maybe this wasn’t believable. Maybe it was too obvious she had some. “Okay, maybe I had a few sips of Lottie’s but that’s all.” 

“I made her do it,” Lottie said. 

“Like you could make Bo-Katan do anything,” Orie said. He sighed and shook his head. Tia and Orie were disappointed in them. Bo was used to disappointing her mom and even her sister, but not Orie and Tia. She had messed up. 

She was a screw up and felt tears forming in her eyes. 

“Oh, Bo, don’t cry,” Tia said as she went over and pulled her into a hug. 

Bo couldn’t believe she was about to cry because she never ever did that. Crying was a sign of weakness and the last thing Bo wanted to be was weak. She wiped the tears away. 

“Please don’t tell Shay because then she’ll tell my mom and I’ll get in trouble,” Bo said, pulling away. She wiped at her eyes again.

Lottie sighed and Bo didn’t have to look at her to know she was rolling her eyes. “What’s wrong with you, Bo? It’s not a big deal. You just had a few sips of alcohol. Stop crying. It’s not very Mandalorian.” 

“Now that’s not true, Lottie,” Orie said. “It’s fine for Mandalorians including Bo to cry.”

Lottie sighed again and Bo knew that she was rolling her eyes. She muttered something, but then cleared her throat. “Come on, you don’t cry, Bo, so stop doing that. You’re only crying because you had a tiny bit of alcohol. You’re such a lightweight.” 

She hadn’t ever drank before, but this still annoyed her. She shoved Lottie, which caused her to laugh and then put her hands up in the air as if she was surrendering. 

“Girls, we’re going to have to tell—” Tia started to say. 

“That’s so not cool,” Lottie said. “You should just tell my family, not hers.”

“We’ll tell what you said. That Bo-Katan didn’t drink that much,” Tia said. “I’m sure your parents will understand.” 

Bo didn’t know about that. Her mother could be a bitch, but no matter what they tried to do after that, nothing would change their minds. Bo tried to get them to tell what was going on with her family, but they really didn’t seem to know. 

Eventually Lottie and Bo went to sleep because Tia and Orie weren’t sure exactly when Shay would show up and Lottie said it would be better if Bo was sober. Bo’s dreams were full of horrible things that could happen. 

But then someone knocked on their door and she woke up. 

“Bo, it’s me, Shay,” Shay whisper-yelled to her. “Come on. We need to get going. You can sleep more on the ship.” 

Bo groaned, but forced herself to stand up. She had a small headache, but it wasn’t that bad. She grabbed her bag, which took a few seconds to find since it was dark, and then carried it out. 

The two of them walked outside and then Shay took a look at her. “You really had been drinking, haven’t you?” 

“Please don’t tell my mom,” Bo muttered, but she knew that it was probably hopeless. She shouldn’t waste her breath. 

Shay stopped and studied her. “I won’t tell your mother if you promise not to do this. At least not anytime soon. I know in a few years, you might want to do the rebellious teenage thing and drink, but you need to wait a little bit.”

“I won’t drink again,” Bo said. She didn’t even want to drink again anytime soon. She hadn’t wanted to at the Wrens really, but she didn’t want to seem prissy or like a coward. 

Shay ruffled her hair and smiled fondly at her. “That’s a good girl. You’ll have plenty of time to ruin your liver and kidneys when you’re an adult.” Shay didn’t say anything else and walked over to the land speeder. 

All Bo could do was run after her and get on it. “Do you know what’s happening? Tia and Orie said they didn’t know what was going on.” 

“I think it’s just some political thing.” Shay turned the speeder on.

“Really? It’s just a political thing?” Instantly Bo felt way better. She didn’t know why her mother wouldn’t have given more information to Tia and Orie? She had been worried. She thought something could have happened to Satine. 

Shay glanced at her for a second and then her lips turned into a frown. “You didn’t know? You don’t need to worry, Bo.” She ruffled her red hair again. “Everything’s fine with your family. Everything is great.” 

“I… Good. Good.” She forced herself to smile and not look like she had actually been that worried. It was just Bo knew history and Mandalorian leaders were assassinated often enough in it. She didn’t want something like that to happen to her own sister. 

Shay started to drive the speeder. She let out a small giggle. “You know, Bo-Katan, if you hadn’t decided to drink than maybe I would have let you drive the speeder. Maybe I’d let you fly to Mandalore, but now you can’t.” 

She rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to fly the ship right now anyway. She wanted to get some more sleep. And once she was on the ship that was what she did while Shay piloted it like usual. Bo felt like she had only just closed her eyes when Shay was shaking her awake. 

“Wake up, sleepy head. We’re already there,” she said. “See this is why—” 

“I know,” Bo muttered. She didn’t need to be lectured. 

Shay threw Bo’s bag at her and Bo barely managed to catch it. “Your mother wants you to wear something presentable.” 

“Nothing I have in here is going to be presentable to my mother.” Bo rolled her eyes. “My mother is—” 

“You don’t know that. And besides why would your mother tell me to tell you to wear something presentable if she didn’t think you had something?” 

Bo raised an eyebrow. She shouldn’t be asking something like this. She had known Bo’s mother forever. 

Shay laughed. “Okay, maybe, just because you’re right, but you still need to put on something besides pajamas. I don’t want her to say I didn’t try to make you wear something else.” 

Bo rolled her eyes, but she grabbed her back and pulled it into the refresher where she put on the one dress that she had brought. She had only brought it because her mother had said that she should have some kind of dress. 

But just like she thought, when she got back to her place, her mother sighed and shook her head. “Really, Bo-Katan? You can’t wear something more appropriate?” 

At least she didn’t need to worry that something was actually wrong. Even her mother wouldn’t lecture her about how she was dressed and didn’t look like a proper sister of the duchess if something was really wrong. 

“Thanks for letting Orie and Tia know that nothing was wrong,” Bo spat out, glaring at her mother. 

“Why would anything be wrong, Bo-Katan? We just need you here for an event.” She sighed and shook her head.

It was just like her mother to act like she had no reason to worry when she could still remember the things that happened when she was a kid? She remembered when their house had been attacked. When she had been forced to go on Krownest for years and her sister had to go with the Jedi? But now she acted like she was overreacting. 

Just like her. 

Still she let her mother drag her upstairs and pick an outfit for her. If she tried to tell her mother what she wanted to wear, she would just reject it. But she did reject her mother’s attempt to make her hair look ridiculous. She wanted her to wear some weird hair piece, but she wasn’t into that. And she could just imagine the crap that Lottie would give her if she found out she had worn something like this.

Or worse if she somehow saw it. 

Even though Lottie would probably think hair pieces like this were cute or even sophisticated and elegant. 

After her mother was finally satisfied with how she looked, the two of them and Korkie left. Korkie was wearing some ridiculous suit. She almost wanted to tell him that, but then she decided to be nice. When they were on the speeder, Korkie cuddled up close to her, resting his head on her shoulder. She couldn’t help but smile. Sometimes, he could be sweet and adorable, even if he was usually annoying. 

But of course, as soon as they saw Satine and the protectors who guarded her, Korkie started to be annoying again, and ran toward her. “Auntie!” he yelled, running into her arms. 

Bo sighed and rolled her eyes. Such typical Korkie. 

Her mother grabbed her arm, but put on a smile, which Bo could tell was fake and just for the protectors to see. “Be nice, Bo-Katan,” she said this through gritted teeth. “You should be happy they—” 

But her mother didn’t get to finish because then Satine came over and pulled Bo-Katan in a hug. “I’m glad you could come.” 

“Yes, yes, I wouldn’t miss it.” Bo rose an eyebrow. “What is this anyway?” 

Satine looked at her and then she laughed. 

“Your sister is giving a speech today like I told you,” their mother said as Korkie still wouldn’t let go of Satine. Satine picked up Korkie. When she was holding him like that, Bo thought they did look alike. 

Sort of. If you squinted. They had the same nose anyway.

Korkie was way too old to be held though. Satine should put him down. He wasn’t a baby anymore. 

“It’s pretty important. It’s about maintaining peace in…” After Satine said that, Bo lost all interest, even as her sister went on and on about how it was important to remain neutral even if war should happen. It seemed like she was worried a war might happen sooner rather than later, but didn’t actually want to do the brave thing and take sides. 

Like Mandalore had done historically. 

Bo felt bad about thinking such horrible things about her sister, even for a moment. She pushed it away. 

She didn’t get a chance to say much else anyway. Her sister was going to have a speech outside the plaza where pretty much any Mandalorian could come and watch it. Apparently, she thought it would be good to not just be by herself but also with her family and close allies while she gave it. Their mother obviously didn’t think it would look good if Korkie seemed too attached to her because she ripped him away from Satine.

“Dank Farrik!” Korkie yelled when she did that, causing both Satine and Bo to giggle, while their mother looked horrified. 

“Korkie Kryze!” their mother said. She let out a nervous laugh and looked at the protectors. “He never swears.” That was actually true, but they probably didn’t believe her. The protectors laughed too though. Like they really cared about a kid swearing? 

Their mother grabbed Korkie’s hand after that and yanked him forward. It reminded Bo of when she had been little like him.

They ended up going into the palace and there they spent time getting ready. Bo couldn’t believe how many pictures there was of her sister.

“I swear it wasn’t my idea,” Satine said, noticing her looking at one. “It—” 

“I would hope not,” Bo said. “Not a good look.” 

“Auntie Satine, you look pretty in them,” Korkie said, since he was a suck up. 

Satine grinned and pulled him into her arms. Or tried to but then Mother grabbed Korkie toward her instead. Apparently, she was still worried that they would look too closely. Not that Korkie even knew that was his mother. 

They didn’t spend much more time in the palace and soon they all went out with a few of Satine’s favorite protectors. There were so many people. They filled the square. Bo didn’t know how her sister could get used to speaking in front of so many people. Bo was hardly even used to being in front of so many people. 

Bo tried not to fidget when they finally stood in front of them. Bo and Satine’s mother, of course, insisted on standing next to Satine like she always did. It was as if she thought people would just assume she was mother of the year and overall an amazing person just by being near her. 

Bo was stuck holding Korkie’s hand, even though it was clear by how he looked at Satine that he wanted to go back to her. She’d be good and not let him do that. 

Satine started speaking. Her words were the kind of thing she had heard Satine say all the time. Peace no matter what blah blah blah. A New Mandalore blah blah blah. Blah blah blah. Normally Bo-Katan would have almost wanted to roll her eyes, but she wasn’t stupid enough to do that now. 

So instead, she just stared off into space while trying to look interested and like a good sister. But she couldn’t pay attention. 

And then she heard it. 

Blaster fire. 

Was she imagining it? No way people should have blasters here. No way they should be firing. It couldn’t happen. It shouldn’t be happening. 

It was. 

A protector shoved Korkie and Bo to the side. Korkie let out a cry. Bo didn’t care. She had to know what was going on. She tried to stand up. Someone else tried to grab her, but she didn’t care. This… Someone was trying to kill Satine! She had to do something!

But then a protector grabbed her. 

Bo screamed and tried to get away. She didn’t want to be dragged to safety. No! She had to help her sister. That was why she had been trying all this time. To protect her sister. Not to be protected herself. 

Somehow, she escaped. 

That was when she saw the body. Her heart sank. She couldn’t breathe. She was all alone. It was just her and the body. At first… at first, she thought it was Satine. She really did. That had to be who they were going after. 

Then she realized it was her mother. 

No!

No… 

She could get to her. She was still so close. She darted over to her mother. The protectors hadn’t gotten her far. She reached her mother. Bo fell to her knees, grabbing her mother’s hands. There was blood. So much blood. 

“Mama!” Bo choked out, but it was hard to hear even her own voice. “Mother!” 

Her mother touched her face. Her hand was wet. Bo didn’t know why. None of this made any sense to her. 

“Bo, I… I… I love you…” 

“Mama!” Bo yelled. This couldn’t be happening. This had to be some kind of awful dream or a joke. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. 

That was when a protector grabbed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bo meets Fenn and finds out what happened to her mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From now on I'm going to try to post chapters every other day, but I thought I'd post this one early since this story passed one of my other ones in hit total and also because I have an interview tomorrow. I hope you all enjoy this and I apologize if I missed any typos!

No! No! No! 

Bo just couldn’t believe this. One of the protectors had her and this time did drag her off to safety. Bo fought him. She didn’t want to be pulled away. She wanted to make sure her mother was okay. She wanted to be with her. 

But she had been on the ground. Bleeding. Bleeding so much. Bo hadn’t seen that much blood since…

She had to do something. She just had to. They were back in the palace now and Bo let out a scream. It didn’t even sound like it belonged to her. No. It was animal like. 

“Calm down,” one of the protectors said. “Calm down, Bo-Katan. Your mother is going to go to the hospital. You must calm down.” 

Calm down? How the kriffing hell was she supposed to calm down? He obviously didn’t know anything about her?

The other protector was giving the first one a look. Or at least she assumed so but he was wearing a helmet.

“I need to see my mother,” Bo demanded, trying to sound as authoritative as possible. “I’m the first in line for the throne and so you need to listen to me. I want to see my mother.” She didn’t actually know if she was next in line or if it was Korkie but she didn’t care. She would say whatever she needed to say. And she would act however she had to. 

“I’m sorry, Lady Kryze, but we have to get you to safety,” the first protector said.

It was tempting to just run. She was fast but she knew that she wouldn’t be fast enough. Plus, there were so many people outside the palace. It would be hard to get to her mother.

“But you can see your nephew,” the second protector said who she could tell just by how his voice sounded that he was young. Probably not much older than her.

Instantly Bo wanted to reject this. How was seeing Korkie going to make things better? But then she thought of how she would have felt when she was his age. She had been even younger than him when their house had been attacked.

“I promise you’ll get updated on your mother as soon as possible,” the younger one said. She could tell her was younger just by his voice. “She’s being sent to the hospital.”

“Hospital…” That had to be good. Didn’t that mean they thought that she would be okay?

“Yes.”

“I… you can take me to see my nephew,” Bo said, still trying to sound grown up and in control of the situation. 

“You’ll be able to see your mother soon, I’m sure,” the younger protector said.

“Before you might want to go to the refresher. To get the blood of you.” 

Bo’s eyes widened and she looked down at her hands. Blood. It was on her knees too from when she had knelt down. That… That meant. 

“I… Okay,” she swallowed. Maybe she was just bleeding a lot, but would be okay. That happened sometimes, right? Some injuries just caused a lot of bleeding. 

She tried to tell herself that when they let her go into the refresher alone, after checking to make sure it was safe. As if someone was in here. Bo stared at herself in the mirror. She really looked horrible. Somehow there was blood on her face and she had a cut by her eye. She didn’t know how she hadn’t felt that happening. When had it even happened? 

She did her best to clean herself off just to not scare Korkie. She couldn’t get some of the blood off her dress, but it was better than before. She sighed and went back out. 

Bo didn’t say anything but she let them lead her away. The palace had a secure room toward the back and of course she was taken there. Bo was pretty sure there was more than one but this one just looked like a break room. Korkie was sitting on the floor alone. Tears danced like stars in his eyes, but he looked better than she had. 

“Auntie Bo!” He ran over and hugged her. He had ran so fast that he almost knocked her over. “I was so scared.” 

Bo hugged him back. She tried to pull away from her nephew but he wouldn’t let go. As if his life depended on keeping a grip on her. When she finally pulled away, he gripped her arm again. 

“It’s…” She wanted to tell him that everything was going to be okay but the words caught in her throat. “I bet we’ll get to see your grandma soon.”

Korkie nodded and wiped at his eyes. 

“Where’s Auntie Satine?” he asked.

“I… I don’t know…” Bo looked at the protectors but they didn’t say anything. “Maybe she’s with your grandma.” 

“I want Auntie Satine.” Korkie’s lip trembled. 

“I know but I’m going to be here for you,” Bo said, trying to make him feel better. She would make sure he was okay. They could try and make each other feel better. They didn’t need Satine. 

“But Auntie Satine!” And then he started to sob. 

“Korkie, it’s going to be okay!” Bo said, trying to make him feel better even though she didn’t know if it was true. She just wanted to be a good aunt. To help him. “We’ll see her soon. And I’m going to be here for you.”

But he kept crying. Bo stumbled backward, finally completely pulling away from Korkie. Why couldn’t she make him feel better? Satine would have been able to. Pretty much anyone would.

But now she couldn’t even think of another thing to tell her nephew. She felt useless. Bo looked at the protectors hoping either the two who rescued her or the one who had been with Korkie would say something but nope. 

Silence. 

But then the younger one took off his helmet. He really was young. Probably only a couple years older than Bo. They let people that young be protectors?

He had ginger hair like Bo. That wasn’t common. Most people in Mandalore didn’t have red hair. His eyes were also so blue. Bo wasn’t sure she had ever seen someone with such blue eyes. 

They were nice. 

Not that something like that mattered. Her brain just wasn’t acting normal now and that was the only reason she noticed just how blue they were. 

He took a couple steps toward Korkie and then looked at Bo. He didn’t even know what to do. At least she wasn’t the only one. 

“It’s… you…” the young protector said. He looked at the other protector as if he hoped that he would help him with this. “We can see if we can get an update on the duchess?”

“Wouldn’t that be good, Korkie?” Bo asked but it worried her. What if Satine wasn’t okay? She hadn’t even seen her after the shooting started. But that was probably because she could only look at her mother. 

She was going to be sick. 

“I want her,” Korkie said.

“Korkie,” the older protector said as he came over. “If you want we can try to get you some art supplies. Then you can make things for your aunt and grandma. I bet it’ll help her feel better.”

Korkie remained quiet. He was going to reject this. He would keep freaking out until he could see Satine. It didn’t matter that she was busy with something else.

She had to be busy with something else because otherwise… no. No. No. Bo wouldn’t even think about that. 

They would be acting different if Satine was hurt. They would have been sent somewhere more secure. Because either she or Korkie would be next in line, right? Bo was going to be sick. 

If she was wrong… would they try and put Bo-Katan on the throne? The thought made her stomach twist even more. Satine had been young when she was in charge but not this young. Bo knew that some planets had younger rulers than Bo but still. Would she be expected to be exactly the same kind of ruler as Satine? She wasn’t a pacifist like her sister. 

More importantly she didn’t want something to happen to Satine. She didn’t want to imagine what the world would be like without Satine. 

“Okay!” Korkie said, which made Bo’s stomach stop twisting as much. 

At least Korkie felt better.

The older protector got him some art supplies and then left leaving them with just the two protectors.

Bo looked at the younger one. “Aren’t you kind of young to be a protector?” She knew it was a stupid thing to ask with all that was going on, but she wanted some kind of distraction.

That way she didn’t have to think about how her mother had looked on the ground. Had she been bleeding? Bo closed her eyes and tried to remember but then pushed it away. She didn’t want to think about this.

“I’m not actually a protector yet, but I’m going to be,” he said without any doubt in his voice. 

Korkie was working on his art without looking up. 

“Then why are you here today?” Bo asked, putting her hands on her hips. “Are you some kind of intern?”

He nodded. “This was the first day. They thought it would be good experience and that nothing…” he rubbed the back of his head. “And I’m not that young.” 

“How old are you?” Bo tilted her head to the side wanting to hear this.

“Fifteen but almost sixteen.” So she was right. He was young. Not much older than her. 

“So in a few years I’ll be old enough to do something like that.” She rocked on the heels of her feet. She didn’t know exactly what she wanted to do when she was older just that it would be something to help Mandalore and her family.

“You’re a Kryze. You could do something even better,” he said. He bit his lip. “I mean I’m sure you could do whatever—“

“I get it.” She didn’t need to hear him try and backtrack because he thought what he said might have been rude. “What’s your name anyway? Or do you not have a name?” Bo asked. For some reason it felt weird that he had seen her freaking out earlier. She shouldn’t care but for some reason that didn’t change her feelings. She wanted to seem strong in front of everyone.

Not that it was possible. 

Korkie looked up at the two of them and tilted his head to the side. Maybe he wasn’t sure what to think. But this was distracting Bo a bit so it was good. She was glad this protector was actually talking to her and not talking at her like they often did. 

But maybe she shouldn’t be happy he was distracting her. Maybe this just showed that she was a horrible daughter. Her mother had been shot.

Shot.

She had been bleeding. 

So much. 

Bo looked at the blood on her dress. Her mother’s blood. Not Bo’s own. 

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I… I don’t know.” Bo shrugged. 

There was a long silence. 

“Fenn. Fenn Rau.” Fenn said, ending the silence. “That’s what my name is.”

“I’d introduce myself but you already know who I am,” Bo said. She sat down on the couch and covered her face with her hands. 

“I didn’t think that I would—“ 

But Fenn didn’t get to say anything else because that was when the other protector came back in. “Lady Bo-Katan. Lor—“

“What’s going on?” Korkie asked, not letting them finish. Good. She was going to ask the same thing. “Do we get to see Auntie Satine now?”

“Or my mother?” As long as Satine was okay, she didn’t need to see her right away. No, she needed to see her mother. Despite her many flaws, Bo had to see that she was okay. 

She didn’t know how much longer she could wait.

“Duchess Satine is on her way right now.” 

“Did they tell you how my mom is—“ Bo tried to ask.

“We weren’t given that much of an update, but I’m sure that the Duchess will tell you.” 

They didn’t have an update? For some reason that made Bo’s stomach twist painfully. Maybe they were waiting for Satine to break the bad news? Or maybe not. 

Please let there be good news. 

“It’s going to be okay, Korkie.” She took his hand on hers. His hand was so warm. 

Korkie pulled away and went back to his art. “I want my art ready for Grandma so she’ll feel better.” 

Bo nodded and then looked at the older protector. “Did they find the person who…?” Bo asked. She hoped they had and she hoped that the person suffered. That’s what they deserved. 

“Yes,” the older protector said. 

“Who was—” 

“You should ask your sister about this,” he said as if Satine would actually give her information. She would probably treat Bo like a child just like she always had. It didn’t matter that she was a teenager now. 

“But—” 

“You should talk to your sister about it.” 

“Was he in Death Watch?” Bo asked. She didn’t know much about them, but she had heard her sister and Mother talking about them. To Bo, it almost sounded like they weren’t too bad. They wanted Mandalore to be like it always had been in history. Strong. 

But if they had done this, Bo would make them pay… 

He studied her and then shook her head. “Not that I’ve been told.” 

“Then who was it!” Bo demanded.

“When your sister gets here, you can ask her.” 

So she wasn’t going to get anything from him. No one else said anything as they drove. Korkie cuddled close to her in a way he usually only cuddled with Satine, but even he didn’t say anything. Bo wanted to do something to make him feel better, but she didn’t know what to say, and she was worried. 

“Please, can you tell me something?” Bo said, even though she knew that it would be hopeless. She was so tired of being treated like a child.

“I don’t know much, Lady Kryze. Your sister will update you.” 

And that was all she could get. Bo sighed and looked at the floor. The young protector, Fenn Rau, tried to speak to her, but now… she just couldn’t. Instead, she kept herself busy by trying to help Korkie with his art. By trying to be a good aunt. 

Finally the door opened and Satine came in. Instantly, Bo could tell that something was horribly wrong. Satine’s eyes were red and puffy and she just… she just looked off. Yes, she could tell herself it was because of everything that happened, but she had seen her sister during crises before and this… This was different. Satine wasn’t the girl from years ago when their house was attacked. She wouldn’t look like this unless…

Bo tried to breathe, but even that was hard. The air didn’t seem to be doing anything for her. It was like she was on some inhospitable planet. 

“Auntie!” Korkie’s eyes lit up like stars and he jumped up and threw himself at Satine. Obviously, he didn’t read the situation the same as Bo. 

Satine didn’t even hug him back at first. She seemed… numb. But she snapped out of it and knelt down and kissed Korkie on the forehead. “Are you okay, ad’ika?” 

Korkie nodded. “I’m okay, auntie! I’m glad you’re here!” 

Satine hugged him close to her. Apparently pretty tightly since Korkie let out a small squeak. “Auntie!” 

She let go of him. “I’m sorry, ad’ika.” She looked at Bo instead. “I’m sorry.” 

Bo didn’t say anything. She tried not to react to any of this. Be a perfect solider. She should be a perfect soldier and warrior and they never showed any emotion. 

Even when they felt like their whole galaxy might be ending. Like everything they had known was going to come crashing down. How would Bo even know how to go on? When the galaxy as she knew it ended? 

“Bo…” Satine trailed off and then looked at the protectors. “I need to talk to my sister alone. Can you take Korkie to get a snack? I think there are some cupcakes in the kitchen.” 

Bo thought that Korkie would be all over that. After all, cupcakes! 

But Korkie raised an eyebrow and stared at his… well, at Satine…

“They’re red velvet, ad’ika. Your favorite,” Satine said. “You should go get some of them.” 

Korkie tilted his head to the side as if he still wasn’t sure but then he nodded. “Okay, Auntie.” 

Bo expected there would be more of a protest but Korkie did what Satine wanted and he left with the protectors. All the protectors.

Bo and Satine were alone. Silence echoed the room.

“Bo…” Satine said as she took a couple steps toward her. 

Bo tried not to react, despite knowing everything in her world was going to come to an end. Like a sun exploding and ending a universe of life. 

All of what her life was would end. Everything. Everything. 

Satine reached her and put her hand on her shoulder. “I…I… I don’t know how to even tell you. I’m so sorry, Bo. I didn’t mean for this to happen.” 

Oh stars. Oh stars. No. This couldn’t. It couldn’t happen. No! No! No!

“Satine!” Bo gasped. She stumbled backward but Satine grabbed her, preventing her from falling. 

“Bo… I don’t even know how to say this.” Satine’s voice broke. She let go of Bo and wiped at her eyes. 

Bo tried to rip away from her. She needed to get away from this. She just knew what her sister would say. She knew it. It was deeper than her bones. The truth. Undeniable. Inescapable. The most terrifying thing in all the galaxies. 

As it often was. 

“I’m so sorry, Bo Bo. You don’t know how sorry I am. It should have been me. It should have been me.” 

Oh stars. Oh stars. 

“Satine… Mama… She’s…” Bo choked on her words. 

Satine tried to reach for Bo, but she pulled away, Falling. Falling to the floor.

“Mama, she’s…” Tears fell from Satine’s eyes. “Mama… She was my best friend. You don’t know how she was before Kortney died. She was so… She loved all of us. You, me, and Kortney. I loved her so much. She made me how I was. She was…” Satine let out a sob. “Bo, you don’t know how much Mother loved you. How much I love you.” 

She reached out to take her hands. No… No… 

“Don’t touch me!” Bo almost screamed. Why couldn’t Satine just tell her everything was going to be all right? Why couldn’t things be all right?

“Bo… Mama… She was shot.” 

Bo looked down at the blood on her dress. Satine touched it and then pulled Bo close to her. She smelled so much like Satine. Like lavender and vanilla. Normally she found it comforting since it was so Satine.

Now it made her sick. 

“She’s dead, Bo. She’s dead!” Satine’s voice broke. She let go of her. “Mother’s dead!” 

Dead. Dead. Dead. 

Bo stumbled backward. This time she did fall. She didn’t care. She didn’t care that she wasn’t acting the right way. Hiding her emotions. Showing nothing. She didn’t care. Her mother… She was many things, but she was her mother. Her only parent left and now…

What did Bo have now? She had nothing.

“You… This is your fault!” Bo forced herself to stand up. She pointed at her sister, even hitting her in the chest. “This is all your fault.” 

Satine didn’t even move and just looked at her. 

“You and your pacifism! Why didn’t you have better security? Why didn’t you stop this!? Why?!” Bo grabbed her hair, pulling it. It hurt, but she didn’t care. The pain made her feel more alive than anything else. And it was a pain that she could control. “This is your fault!” 

“Bo, they were after—” 

“They were after you! They were after you because you…” Bo couldn’t handle this. She couldn’t. Be a good Mandalorian, Bo. Hide your emotions, Bo. She couldn’t. She couldn’t. She couldn’t! She was only thirteen. 

Be Mandalorian. Be Mandalorian. Be…

Just don’t be Bo-Katan Kryze. 

“I hate you, Satine. I hate you!” Bo’s voice was foreign. So foreign. This had to be her fault. It had to be. It had to be someone’s fault. Things like this just didn’t happen. Bo couldn’t believe that. She just couldn’t. 

“Bo, I love you,” Satine said, somehow so soft, even now. “I know that this—"

“Shut up! Shut the fuck up!” Bo didn’t care if what she said was horrible. She didn’t care. This had to be Satine’s fault. Because someone had to be blamed and so it had to be Satine. 

Satine didn’t even react. Bo had wanted her to. She wanted her to feel pain. She’d never feel the pain Bo did, even though they had the same mother and she loved Satine. She just wouldn’t. Bo had nothing now. Satine had everything. 

At one point Satine had their father who Bo was sure adored her more than anything. She had their mother who had favored her. Their late sister Kortney had probably loved Satine more than anyone too. And now Satine had Korkie. Even Satine’s long lost Jedi love would probably come running to her because she was Satine and she had everything. 

And now their mother was dead because of her.

Dead…

Bo took off running. Satine yelled at her, probably wanting to stop her. It didn’t make sense. It didn’t sound like basic or Mando'a. It didn’t sound like any language Bo had studied. One of the protectors tried to grab Bo when she left the room. Not the young one. He was gone. The older one had a strong grip. She kicked him in the groin. He let go. 

Then Bo took off. Her sister said something. Maybe stopping him from chasing her. Or maybe telling him the opposite. Bo didn’t know. She didn’t care. 

She ran. She didn’t know where she was going, but she ran through the palace. And then she fell. Flat on her face. There was a dull pain in her face now. She didn’t care. She was in the throne room. She hadn’t planned it but there she was. In her sister’s throne. No, not just her sister’s. Yes, it was decorated for her now, but it had been the Mandalorian throne room for centuries. 

Bo didn’t get up. She slammed her fists on the floor. Hard enough to cause bruises. The sound echoed through the halls. 

Mandalore… Her world. No, it was more than that. Mandalore was everything. 

Everything…

But Bo was nothing. 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Who was it for? Bo didn’t know. Maybe her mother who had to have loved her in her own way. Who Bo loved despite everything. Maybe Satine who did show her love and was just… Bo couldn’t think about this now. Maybe the apology was for Mandalore because she would never be enough. 

Or maybe it was for herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please review :)


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoy this chapter. I liked it personally.

Bo didn’t know how long she stayed there. It could have been just a few more minutes or maybe it was closer to an hour. She didn’t know. And she didn’t care. Satine found Bo in the throne room. She knelt down next to her and pulled her close to her. Part of Bo wanted to scream and push her away, but another part was glad she was here. Glad to be close to her sister. 

Even if things could never be the same again. 

“I’m sorry,” Bo said in a small voice. She didn’t know if she really was. Part of her was, but another part… another part thought she was right. That it was all Satine’s fault that she was now an orphan. 

“I am too,” Satine said.

She looked at her sister. “What’s… what’s going to happen to me?” 

Satine took her hands in hers. Her hands were somehow warm. “What do you mean?”

“I mean Korkie’s your…” She glanced around just to make sure they were really alone, even if it felt stupid to do something like that now. They were. “He’s your son. Obviously he’s going to stay with you. Obviously he’s…” 

“You’re going to stay with me too,” Satine said. She stood up and then pulled Bo up too. “I’d never abandon you.” 

Bo looked at her, not sure if she should believe her.

“I mean it,” Satine said. “I’m not going to abandon you. I would never do that.” She pulled her close to her again. “It’s you and me against the galaxy. It always will be.” 

“Always?” Bo looked up at her sister even though she barely had to now since she was almost as tall as her. 

“Always.”

*** 

The next few days blurred together. They didn’t even seem real most of the time. Just some kind of dream. Bo tried to avoid spending time with other people. She wanted to just be alone. She wanted… She wanted this to not be happening. When she could, she’d sneak off with her blasters and practice firing them. She wouldn’t stop until she hit each target perfectly multiple times. 

She had to be perfect. She had to be ready for… she didn’t know what, but she would be ready. 

Sometimes when she couldn’t sleep, she’d go there at midnight and stay until eight AM. At first thought she thought Satine would find out and ask questions, but if she knew that she was leaving, she didn’t say anything. 

The closest she got to mentioning knowing anything was when she ruffled Bo’s hair and mentioned how she looked tired. “You should try and get some rest, Bo.”

“I’m fine,” she muttered. She picked at her breakfast. Eating was hard now, but she forced herself to even though the food tasted like the sand of Tatooine. 

She sighed, but didn’t say anything else. Even the next day when she caught Bo coming in around seven, she didn’t say anything. 

Saturday was the funeral, which was actually small. Thank the stars. Bo couldn’t try to be… anything. She didn’t know if she could be the perfect warrior that day, and she also didn’t think that she could be the perfect sister of the Duchess of Mandalore. 

She didn’t have to be anything. She thought that she would cry. It was her mother’s funeral after all. It would make sense if she cried. Korkie and Satine both did. Satine just had tears rolling down her face, but Korkie was hysterical.

“Grandma! Grandma!” Korkie screamed. He tried to pull away from Satine and even kicked at her. She grabbed him around the waist. And then Korkie reached his arm forward as if he was trying to… use the force. 

Bo’s heart beat harder. If he did… She didn’t know what they would do. Yes, this was a private ceremony but there were still some other people here. People they wouldn’t want to know if he was force sensitive. 

Mandalorians weren’t force sensitive. If they were, it ended when they were young since they didn’t let the Jedi kidnap their children and brainwash them. If Korkie had force powers now, it would look suspicious. Even if they thought it was a fluke, people would ask questions. Questions it would be better if they didn’t ask. 

But nothing happened and then Satine pulled him out of the room. Bo tried not to breathe a sigh of relief or be disappointed that she was alone. 

People were looking at her. She could feel it, but she just stared ahead where her mother was. Or rather her mother’s body. Her mother was gone. 

Gone.

Bo wiped at her dry eyes. 

That was when Satine came back with Korkie. Korkie was crying, but not hysterically anymore. He gripped Satine’s hand and then rested his head against her shoulder. The two of them were a set. A set that Bo wasn’t part of. 

But she didn’t move to be closer. She just went back to staring ahead.

Eventually they were told they could see the body. 

“I don’t want to, Auntie Satine!” Korkie cried. “I don’t want to.” 

Bo looked down, not even sure if she did or not. It… It wasn’t like that was really her mother. Her mother was gone and Bo couldn’t follow her. But Bo found herself going up by herself. Satine and Korkie were still talking. They didn’t seem to notice. 

When she got up there, Bo took her mother’s hand. It was so cold. But somehow her mother looked just like she was sleeping and she looked beautiful and so much like Satine. A lump formed in Bo’s throat. 

“I’m sorry, Mama,” Bo said, grabbing her hand with her other hand as well. “I’m sorry I’m not…” Not like Satine. Probably not like Kortney either. “But I’m going to be good. I’ll be a good Mandalorian. I’ll be a good sister and aunt.” Something wet was on her cheek. “I love you, Mama.”

*** 

The funeral ended and Bo thought that would be it. That they could… she didn’t know… try to be normal but then Satine had to say something.

“Mother wanted a public memorial so…” So of course, there was one, and of course, they were expected to go. 

“Why? It’s not like she…” But their mother had been important. She had worked in politics before she had Bo and when Satine had been with the Jedi, she had been a regent ruler. People cared about her mother. And Bo was sure that many people had hated her. 

“You don’t need to go, Bo,” Satine said. “Korkie’s not going to go.” 

Maybe it would be good for her to stay with Korkie. The two of them could drink hot chocolate and watch a holodrama or even play a game, but she knew that she couldn’t. She had to do what her mother would want. 

And her mother would want her to go.

“No, I’ll… I’ll go with you.” 

Satine put her hand on her shoulder. “You really don’t have to, Bo.” 

“I want to. I want to be with you.” 

Her sister gave her a sad smile, so she knew that she had said the right thing. “We really will stick together, sister. It’ll be the two of us against the world.” 

Bo nodded, hoping it could be true. That this tragedy could bring them together. That they could be how they used to be.

When they got to the public memorial, Bo intended to stay next to her sister the whole time. And for awhile she did. She was next to her sister when people went over to them to say their apologies and regards. Some of them even told stories. Satine would say things about how grateful their mother would be and all of that. 

They actually ran into Tia and Orie there. Bo couldn’t believe it. She didn’t think they would be able to come. It wasn’t like they were from a well-known clan or house. Tia hurried over and pulled Bo in her arms. 

“Ad’ika, sweet sweet, Bo.” She kissed her forehead. “I’m so so sorry.” 

Bo didn’t say anything and hugged her closely, glad to be close to Tia who was like family to her. 

“Ad’ika, if you ever need anything from either of us we’ll be there.” Tia looked up at Satine. “And if you need anything either, Duchess Satine.” 

“Thank you,” Satine said. She took Tia’s hands after Orie pulled Bo away so he could hug Bo instead. “Thank you so much, and thank you for everything you’ve done for my baby sister.” 

“Bo-Katan’s a wonderful girl,” Tia said.

Bo raised an eyebrow. The last time she had seen Tia, Bo had been drunk. She was hardly that wonderful. 

“I know. I know,” Satine said. “And I’m going to take good care of her, but I’m sure Bo will want to visit you sometimes. She loves you.” 

Bo nodded and then she hugged Tia and Orie again. Part of her wished that she could stay with the two of them and act like she was a normal Mandalorian girl, not the sister of the duchess. But of course, she couldn’t. 

She had to go with her sister. 

But then after they had talked to some other politicians, Bo somehow lost her sister. She bit her lip. Great. This wasn’t good. People would talk to her and she wasn’t as good at this kind of thing as Satine. She would say something wrong and let her mother down even now that she was.... 

Gone. 

Someone put their hand on Bo’s shoulder. She darted away and spun around, not knowing who it would be. But ready. 

But it was Pre Vizsla. He put his hands up and shrugged. “It’s just me. Don’t worry, Bo-Katan.” 

She bit her lip. “I’m not worried,” she muttered. “I was just being—” 

“You were ready in case you needed to,” he said. “It’s good. A warrior always needs to be ready.” 

“Yes, yes,” Bo said. She put her hands in her pockets for a moment. “I… I didn’t think you would be here.” Somehow it seemed weird that he was in the same place as her sister, even though Bo knew the two of them had met more than a few times. 

It just seemed… weird. 

“I knew that I should be here for you.” He leaned closer to her and for a moment she thought he might kiss her on the forehead like Tia had. Luckily he didn’t since that would have been weird. Really weird. And it didn’t seem like him. At all. 

“Thank you.” Bo’s voice was scratchy and foreign sounding. “Thank you. My mother…” She was going to say she would want him here, but she’d be pissed. She hated Vizslas. Hated them with a fiery hatred.

“I’m glad you’re okay. If you had been hurt then I’d have to break in and kill the guy,” Pre said almost growling. This was weird too. He couldn’t really care about her, and yet… it was nice hearing this. No one else was talking about how the guy deserved punishment. “I would make him suffer.” 

“He should anyway.” Bo clutched her fists tightly. Tightly enough that it hurt. “He should suffer.

“Yes, he should,” Pre said. He glanced over his shoulder before looking at her again. 

“It’s… It’s not fair!” He should have to suffer and bleed. Her mother was gone now and the person who killed her should have to pay. And it should hurt. Maybe then he’d feel as bad as Bo did. “Because he won’t suffer and it’s not fair!” 

He put his hands on her shoulder, which felt comforting right now. “I understand what you’re going through right now. I was the same as you when my parents died.” 

“Both of them?” Bo asked. She couldn’t imagine that, but then again it wasn’t like she had even known her father. But losing two people at once… it would be even worse. 

“Yes, it was, and I wanted revenge. What helped me was training so if I ever got the chance… Well, they’d regret it.” He gave her a smile that seemed almost cruel, but she knew the cruelty wasn’t because of her. “And if it anyone else tried something, I could stop them.” 

Bo looked down for a moment. That sounded good. Amazing even. 

“I can train you more, Bo-Katan. Just the two of us, or Lottie can join too if you want, but she doesn’t take it seriously.” He shook his head. “But whatever you want.” 

“I… I want to be better. I don’t want…” She didn’t want to get hurt anymore. “I want to train. I want to be a real Mandalorian warrior. I want…” 

He nodded. For a moment his eyes lit up as if he was going to smile, but he didn’t. “I knew you would.” He let go of her and gave her his com info. She paused but gave him hers too, even though she knew that Satine wouldn’t like it. Satine wouldn’t like any of this, but it would be for the best. “You can visit on Concordia, and I can train you there.” 

“I… Okay…” Bo said. 

He glanced behind his back again. “But you shouldn’t tell your sister about it. She’s a pacifist so she wouldn’t understand.” 

“I know.” Bo cleared her throat. “And I won’t tell her.” It didn’t feel right, but she knew that was what she had to do.

Pre pulled her into a hug. A close hug. Closer than Orie had hugged her. He smelled earthy and woody. Probably some kind of cologne. 

She was surprised he would hug her, but she was glad. She didn’t get hugged much, but she liked it when she was. 

“Thank you for—” 

“Bo-Katan! Governor Vizsla,” Satine said. 

Pre instantly pulled away from Bo as if she had some kind of contagious disease. Really, he almost shoved her. Bo stumbled backward, but she was fine, but she couldn’t believe it. It didn’t make sense. He must be worried about Satine’s reaction.

“Duchess Kryze,” Pre said. “I’m here to send my condolences about—” 

“Thank you,” Satine said, but her voice had a sharpness to it. Bo didn’t know if Vizsla would notice it. She might just because of how much she knew her sister. “But why were you hugging my sister? Have you even met her before?” 

“Your sister…” Pre actually didn’t seem to know what to say. Bo couldn’t believe it. He always had something to say when he was training her and Lottie. 

“He was trying to make me feel better,” Bo said. “I was upset and he was comforting me.” She’d rescue Pre from this. It was better Satine didn’t know they had met before. It would make it harder for her to train with Pre. “He really was just helping me, Satine.” 

Satine studied both her and Pre but then she nodded before putting her arm around Bo’s shoulders and pulling her close to her. She looked at Pre. “Thank you for helping my sister, but she’s thirteen, and I don’t know if it’s proper for you to hu—” 

“I apologize. I shouldn’t have hugged her,” Pre said. “I just was worried about her. She’s sad. No, devastated.” 

“Yes, she is, because our mother just died,” Satine said. Bo didn’t know why her sister was being so weird. It wasn’t a big deal, but her sister wasn’t happy about this. At all. “But thank you for your condolences and for trying to help my sister.” 

Pre nodded. “If there is anything any of you need—” 

“Yes, thank you,” Satine said. “Thank you, Governor.” Satine didn’t even let him say anything else and pulled Bo away. “We should get going. We’ve been here long enough.” 

“I…” Bo nodded. She didn’t want to be here any longer either. She wanted to go home. 

*** 

Bo stayed in her room the rest of the night. She just couldn’t bring herself to go out and spend time with Korkie and Satine. Maybe it was selfish, but she just couldn’t. She wouldn’t get to be in her room here as much soon. They weren’t selling the house, but Bo and Korkie were both moving to the palace. 

Bo didn’t know what to think about that, but it made sense. 

Someone knocked on the door. Probably Satine. It had to be Satine because Korkie didn’t knock. He just ran in. 

“Come in,” Bo said. She had been reading a book on her bed or rather trying to read, but she put it down. 

Sure enough Satine came in. She shut the door and leaned against it. 

“Bo, are you okay?” 

Bo shrugged. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m okay.” That was what she should say to make her sister feel better. Satine was probably going through more. She had been their mother’s favorite after all. Or maybe Kortney had, but obviously Bo wasn’t the favorite. 

But her mother had told Bo she loved her before she died. 

Satine sat down next to Bo on the bed. 

“Are you okay?” Bo asked. Satine seemed put together. Her eyes weren’t red and puffy and she looked… she looked normal except tired. 

“I will be.” She paused. “I need to talk to you about something.” 

Great… She already knew what this was going to be about, but she thought when her sister hadn’t mentioned it on the way home that Bo had been wrong and she wouldn’t bring it up. Apparently not. 

“Pre Vizsla—” 

“He really was just trying to make me feel better,” Bo said. She crossed her legs at her knee. “Really.” 

Her sister studied her. She was trying to see if she was lying. Bo tried not to react at all.

“And you’ve never met him before?” Satine asked.

Bo thought about confessing that she had and just downplaying it, but then she would be admitting she lied and Satine was already weirdly worried about this. She thought she liked Pre Vizsla. She had defended him to their mother before. 

“No,” Bo said. “I’m sorry if I shouldn’t have talked to him or let him hug me.” She still didn’t get why her sister was acting so weird about this. It wasn’t a big deal. Pre had basically shoved her away when he saw Satine so he was acting strange too. 

“No, it’s okay,” Satine sighed and ran a hand through her short blond hair. “I just had a bad feeling…” She shook her head. “I was worrying about nothing. It’s probably because of how Mother was so anti-Vizsla. When I saw him hug you, I just… I thought it would strange he would when he’s an adult man and you’re just a teenage girl. He’s not family or even a family friend and…” 

Bo didn’t say anything and just shrugged. 

But Satine wasn’t done. 

“Some people… they hurt children and teenagers, and I don’t want you to get hurt. Bo, people—"

“I’m not stupid, Satine. I know there are bad people out there.” She rolled her eyes. It wasn’t like she was a child anymore. She wasn’t the little girl who didn’t understand how Satine had gotten pregnant with Korkie. She had grown up. “You think Pre Vizsla’s like that? You think he would want to hurt me?” Is that what she was trying to say? It didn’t even make sense because she wouldn’t interact with him at all if she did. She wouldn’t have let him be Governor of Concordia. 

“No, I don’t think so, but you can’t always know.” She shook her head. “And I know you’re not stupid, Bo. I’m just being protective.” 

“You don’t need to be protective,” Bo said. “I can take care of myself.” And once Pre had trained her more, she would be able to do a better job of taking care of Satine and Korkie too. Not that she was going to say that now. 

“But it’s my job,” Satine said. “Especially now.” 

Which Bo imagined Satine didn’t think would be easy. 

“Bo, I just want you to know that some people, but especially men, can be…” Satine paused as if she was trying to find the words. “They don’t have the best intentions even if they might seem like they do. Some might act nice but… aren’t. I want you to know you can tell me anything.” 

No, she couldn’t, but she still nodded. “Okay, Satine.” 

Satine smiled weakly.

“Satine, was that how your Jedi was? Did he act nice but he wasn’t…?” Bo never mentioned Satine’s Jedi, but that was because their mother wouldn’t have liked it but now…

“No, no, not at all. Obi-Wan and I are about the same age and… he’s an amazing person. So sweet and patient and…” Her sister got a weird look in her eyes. Really? She could still somehow get that look after all these years? Bo wanted to barf. “Not that he was perfect. He’s also aggravating at times and almost always stubborn.” 

“And you’re not?” Bo raised an eyebrow.

Satine smirked. “He really is a good person. I can tell you all about him later if you want. I can tell you all about how I fell in love with him.” 

Part of Bo was curious about this. It would be interesting to hear about this Obi-Wan. Another part of her was worried her sister would get that weird look in her eyes and say cheesy things, and then Bo might actually throw up. 

Still, she nodded. She’d survive. “Yeah, I guess, but don’t tell me anything cheesy.” She probably would. 

“I’ll try not to, but we can’t talk about it today. Today…” Today was too hard for Bo too. “But soon. I promise soon.” 

Bo nodded and looked at her sister. Maybe things would be okay eventually. Bo hoped so. 

No, Bo knew they would be. Because she would have Pre Vizsla train her and then she could make sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading. Like always I love any reviews that can be left. I would especially love them today because I sprained my ankle and a review would make me happy. It's annoying not being able to walk well. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!


	22. Chapter 22

Things were different. Bo knew they would be but now that they actually were… it was hard. She wished that she could go back to school, but it was summer. Instead, she was stuck around the palace. Satine did actually let her go to the shooting range to practice luckily. When she had asked her, Bo was sure her sister would say no and go on and on about how violence was bad, but she didn’t even blink. 

“Maybe I can go with you sometime,” Satine said.

“You know how to shoot?” Bo asked, finding this very odd. 

“Of course, I do,” Satine said. “I’m Mandalorian. I’m pretty good or I used to be. We can see who’s better.” 

Bo would be better. It was strange even imagining Satine shooting. 

At least now she could get out of the palace for awhile, but she was still there all the time. And it was driving her crazy. She was stuck in her thoughts and being here didn’t even feel natural. Even when she was in the living parts of the palace, she was worried some politician would somehow have gotten past and would talk to her. 

But that didn’t happen. Still, it felt weird. 

She was going to lose it. Really she was going to lose any of her sanity that was left. She felt so trapped not just in her head but in this palace that she thought about asking Satine to tell her about her love story with her Jedi and not wait for her to decide to. 

She went through her sister’s books too. It turned out Satine didn’t just like only non-fiction. She liked romance. Not just romance but mostly forbidden romances about people who dated Jedi. Sadly, Bo wasn’t surprised. 

Needless to say, Bo didn’t read those. 

She played with Korkie a lot more, but that wasn’t fun either. She was tempted to take him to the firing range, but Satine wouldn’t like it. Korkie still thought Satine was his aunt, but she really was acting more like his mom. Even though Satine was obviously devastated about their mother dying, she seemed happy to have Korkie around. She spent time with him constantly and would even try to make his favorite desserts.

That didn’t go well and the palace almost burned down. 

Bo was getting so bored that she was thinking of starting to cook herself, which she had never done and didn’t want to. She had to do something though. 

So she went to find Satine one night after she finally came to the living quarters. Of course, Korkie was there with her. The two of them were reading together. A child friendly book, not the Jedi Mandalorian romance novels. 

“Bo,” Satine said, looking at her. She tried to put the story down but Korkie grabbed it. He didn’t need Satine’s help to read. He had been reading on his own since he was three. He was smart. 

Bo sure hadn’t been reading on her own when she was three. 

Bo bit the inside of her mouth, trying to decide how to ask this. “I can’t stay in this palace anymore. I’m going to lose it.” That wasn’t how she planned to say it, but there it was. 

“Bo…” She sighed and shook her head. “I know it’s hard, but you don’t actually have to spend all your time in the palace. You can go out but you have to be with the protectors.” 

That didn’t make it any better. Most of the protectors would never let her have any fun. And she didn’t like having someone there to protect her. She wanted to be able to protect herself. She wished she could sneak to Concordia but Satine was always here and she would know right away. 

And then Satine would have sent out an alert to the whole Mandalore sector and probably all the outer rim worlds. If she didn’t hear back right away, she’s find a way to have the core worlds hear about it too. Just no. Bo couldn’t deal with that now. 

So instead she was just communicating with Pre, which Satine wouldn’t have liked as it was. 

“I don’t want to be with the protectors,” Bo muttered. 

“They’re there to protect you. You like Fenn Rau, right? He’s still interning so we could have him go with you too.” 

“He’s okay.” Actually seeing him would be better than just being with a normal protector but it still wasn’t enough. “But I want to go back to Krownest.” 

Satine sighed and stood up. “I can’t let you go there.” 

“But it’s so hard being here.” She paused and folded her arms over her chest. “I’m so bored and all I can think about is Mom.” Even as it came out, she felt bad, but it was all true. 

“Bo, I… You can’t go to Krownest.” 

“Why not? I can protect myself fine, and you said they already caught the person who…” Bo didn’t want to think about it. Maybe it would be easier to think about if the person was suffering like he should. Her mother was gone because of him. Her mother would never get to do all the things she wanted to. She would never get to see Korkie grow up.

Bo wanted to know more about what was happening to the person who… murdered… her mother, but Satine never would tell her. It made Bo so angry sometimes. She would need to get her to talk to her about it eventually.

“We think he was acting independently, but I’m not willing to risk putting you in danger right now. Not until we know more.”

Not until they knew more? She couldn’t take this anymore. 

“You can invite one of your friends over if you want,” Satine said as if trying to negotiate with her. 

“But I’d rather go to Krownest or…” But she stopped. She wasn’t stupid enough to say Concordia and have her sister ask her questions about why she was interested in that now. 

“Well, you can’t. So you can invite a friend over or not.” 

Bo sighed and rolled her eyes, but it was better than nothing. She asked if Lottie could come over and surprisingly Satine said that was okay, but there would have to be background checks first. Ugh, Bo’s life was getting more and more annoying. Lottie and her family apparently did manage to pass and Lottie actually got permission to come. 

Bo met her outside the palace. Of course, she had to have protectors with her since that was her life now. She didn’t even get to have any of the fun protectors like Fenn Rau with her most the time. Nope, just the stuffy ones. Lottie would probably give her crap for this, but instead she was too busy staring up at the palace. 

“I can’t believe you get to live here. Like some kind of princess.” She still wasn’t looking at Bo and instead at the palace. 

“I’m not a princess,” Bo said through gritted teeth. She just hated being called that. And she wasn’t one. Not really. 

“Looks like it.” 

Bo punched her on the arm gently. 

That was when Lottie finally stopped looking at the palace and hugged her. “I… I heard about… I’m sorry…” 

“It’s… Not your fault.” Bo felt a lump in her throat form. This always happen when people would try to apologize for what happened to her mother. It was just…

“Still I’m—” 

“I don’t want to talk about that,” Bo said, not letting her finish. She hadn’t brought Lottie here so they could only talk about that. And she didn’t want Lottie to feel sorry for her and be worried that she was different and that she might say the wrong thing. “Come on. Let’s go in the palace. I’ll show you everything.” 

And Bo did do that and for awhile they were having fun just hanging out. Then Bo made the mistake of mentioning her sister’s romance novels which caused Lottie to grin at her. “Your sister has romance novels?” 

“Yes,” Bo said, shrugging. 

“I’m surprised. I thought the Duchess would have only boring books about politicians.” 

That was what Bo had thought too but she wasn’t going to say that to her. 

“You should go get them,” Lottie said. “I want to read these. Well, the sex scenes.” She sighed dramatically and threw herself on Bo’s bed. “My family never lets me read anything like that. They like boring books about politicians and war. Romance is better.” She sat back up on the bed. “And I bet the romance scenes will be funny.” 

“But—” 

“Or maybe we shouldn’t read them since you’re still just a kid, Bo-Katan.” 

Okay, that drove Bo crazy and Lottie knew it. 

“You’re only three years—” 

“That’s a lot at this time,” Lottie said annoyingly because that was what she was at times, annoying. “You’re obviously way less mature than me.” 

“Not sure about that.”

Lottie sighed. “Then get the books, but don’t blame me when the romance scenes are embarrassing to you.” She reached out and patted Bo’s shoulders. “You’re lucky you have me here to help you have fun.” 

Bo didn’t know how fun reading Satine’s romance novels would be but whatever maybe it would be fun. 

It was funny. The Jedi Mandalorian romances didn’t have much love scenes like Lottie wanted, but the other ones did and Lottie would read them dramatically. Bo would find herself laughing hysterically and also hiding her face so she couldn’t see how red her cheeks were. 

“Your face looks like a red lightsaber,” Lottie said, throwing one of the steamier romances at her. 

“It doesn’t.” 

“Yes, it does. You’re so red.” Lottie laughed and skimmed through another book. This one was one of the Jedi Mandalorian romances. “You know these books need less lightsaber fights and more “lightsaber” fights if you know what I mean.” 

“I know.” She didn’t, but she wasn’t going to admit that to Lottie. 

“And fights with not just lightsabers.” 

Yeah, Bo wasn’t going to say anything about this. Apparently, Lottie knew more about some things. Bo didn’t think she wanted to know too much about this kind of thing. She covered her face with one of the stories again. 

“So your sister has some kind of Jedi fetish?” Lottie asked. 

“No,” Bo said automatically since even this was too close to admit that her sister had a fling with a Jedi. Bo loved Lottie, but there was no way she was going to tell her about her sister’s Jedi fling. 

“Then why does she have so many Jedi romances? They’re not even that steamy.” 

Bo shrugged. “I don’t know.” 

Lottie laughed. “Your sister has a weird Jedi fetish.” She read the back of one of the books. “You don’t have one too?” 

“Eww, no,” Bo said. She wasn’t really big into romance or love right now, but she definitely wouldn’t want to date a Jedi. She still thought her sister having a fling with one was weird. Maybe she would understand better when her sister told their story, but their story better not be like some of these romance novels or Bo would be even more scarred for life. 

She would be so scarred she’d have to run away to like Tatooine and do whatever people did there. Build sand castles? Pod racing? Do illegal things for the Hutts? But she was sure her sister’s story was not… like the people in these romances. 

Not that she would have told her. 

And if she did Bo had no choice but to go to Tatooine forever. 

“You know I’m in love,” Lottie said, grinning at Bo. 

“What? No, you’re not?” She would have mentioned it to Bo before. Lottie couldn’t keep a secret for more than five seconds. Or maybe that wasn’t true since she had been quiet about who she was when they had been little, but she didn’t like to keep secrets. 

Lottie grinned even wider. It looked like it hurt. “I am, but it’s forbidden like these romances. My family wouldn’t understand.” She sighed dramatically. 

“Is your love some kind of Jedi?” 

Lottie rolled her eyes. “I’m not like your sister. Not into that. He’s Mandalorian, but he and his sisters are foundlings and… my family are snobs.” She sighed. “I’ll tell you more later. I doubt you’d understand either, Bo.” 

“Come on you have to tell me something,” Bo whined. “Please.” She wanted to hear about this. “Did you meet him on Krownest?” 

“No… I met him on Concordia but he showed up Krownest after you left and we just connected.” Her eyes lit up in a way that she had never seen Lottie’s before. “We talked and there was instantly a connection and… One day you’ll meet him.” 

Bo wanted to get more information from Lottie, but she wouldn’t tell anything. Asking her seemed to make Lottie happy though because she would grin wider each time. Maybe this was just some kind of trick she was playing on her. 

At least it was interesting. 

But soon that ended and even with Lottie here, Bo was getting stir crazy. 

“Do you have any friends who have anything going on?” Lottie asked. “Friends who aren’t thirteen like you?” 

Bo was about to snap at her and make some kind of comment about how nothing was wrong with her friends and yes, they were thirteen, but that gave Bo an idea. An idea that could get her to Concordia. That way she could maybe meet Lottie boyfriend who may or may not exist, and more importantly she could do some training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure what I think of this chapter, but I hope you all enjoyed it!


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bo and Lottie sneak to Mandalore's moon, Concordia.

As soon as Bo came up with the idea, she felt guilty, but she also knew that she was going to try and get Lottie to go along with it. She would have to get her friend and roommate from school to also. 

Luckily her friend said she would lie for them. Bo already knew that she would pass her sister’s background checks, and just to make Satine less suspicious and also her friend’s parents, Bo would spend some time there. She missed her anyway. 

Convincing Satine to let her go wasn’t super easy, but it wasn’t super hard either. She seemed to want her to be happy. Not that Bo would ever be happy as long as her sister kept her imprisoned like some kind of fairy tale princess. Bo had always hated those stories. 

“How are we even going to get to Concordia?” Lottie asked, raising an eyebrow. She was laying on Bo’s bed and reading one of Satine’s romance novels she had made fun of. Not one of the Jedi love stories. She had hardly put it down. 

“I’m starting to think the real reason you had me get those is because you wanted to read them yourself,” Bo said, ignoring her question. Lottie wasn’t going to like the answer. 

“They’re pretty good.” She looked at the back of it. Bo remembered the passage from that book. It had been one that had made her blush. “Not the Jedi romance stories. I’m not like your sister. I don’t have a Jedi fetish.” 

“My sister doesn’t have a Jedi fetish!” Bo scowled. “And don’t say that so loudly. She might hear you.” 

“The Duchess of Mandalore—” Lottie yelled. No way that Bo was going to let her continue that.

She put her hand over her mouth. “Don’t!”

Lottie actually licked her hand. Bo pulled away and shot her a look of disgust. 

“That’s gross!” 

“You did it to me,” Lottie said, laughing. 

“I had been drinking.” 

“Well, I had to get revenge,” Lottie said, laughing even more. “And you haven’t answered my question.” 

“What question?” Bo asked, trying her best to actually seem like she didn’t know what she was talking about.

Lottie raised an eyebrow and sighed. “Really, Bo?” 

“Fine, I already have a plan as to how we are going to get to Concordia.” Bo picked at a loose thread of one of the blankets on her bed. It was surprising any of them had loose threads since even Bo could tell the blankets were expensive. 

“And what is that plan?” 

Bo picked at the thread more. She didn’t know what Lottie was going to think about this. 

“Bo-Katan?” Lottie grinned. “Are we going to steal one of your sister’s ships? I’m a great pilot.” She extended her hands to the air at first. “I’m going to fly throughout the galaxy.” Bo could see her doing that one day, but then Lottie sighed. “Or I would if my family would let me do what I wanted and not just be one of their pawns.” 

“You will fly around the galaxy, but I’m not going to steal one of my sister’s ships.” Satine would find out if she did and then well… She’d rather not deal with that, especially now. She was trying to avoid Satine finding out what she was doing. Those ships technically weren’t even owned by Satine and by the government instead and she was sure they had trackers on them. 

So that would mean Satine would know exactly where she was. 

And that was the last thing she wanted. Maybe Satine wouldn’t figure out why she went to Concordia but she probably would. She had her ways. 

So best to avoid that. 

“Then what are we going to do?” Lottie looked at the book again and opened it. 

“I… Pre is going to send a ship to pick us up.” Bo did her best to make it sound like this wasn’t a big deal. 

Lottie dropped the book. “My uncle is sending someone to get us?” 

“Yes.” Bo tried to make it sound like it wasn’t a big deal because really it didn’t need to be. “He’s—”

“How’d he even know to do that?” Lottie asked. 

“I’ve been in contact with him. For business reasons.” Bo thought she did a good job of sounding professional, but she also knew it wasn’t going to work because she was thirteen. 

“Business reasons? Are you kidding? You’ve been listening to Satine too much. You’re thirteen. What is your job? Babysitting? My uncle doesn’t have any kids for you to watch.” 

Bo threw a pillow at Lottie’s face. Lottie caught it and threw it back at her. Bo sighed and put it back down. 

“He’s going to be training me more.”

Lottie sighed dramatically and put her hands on the back of her head. “Yeah, I’m sure that he wants to do just that.” 

“What do you mean?” Bo asked.

Lottie shrugged. “I just know my uncle is an asshole. He’s probably using you for something because of your name.” 

Right away red-hot anger flared in Bo. She was so tired of people acting like the only thing that mattered about her was that she was a Kryze or that she was related to Satine. They were different people.

“Wow, calm down,” Lottie laughed. How dare she laugh at her? This wasn’t funny. 

“He listens to me. We talk. He…” No one ever listened to Bo. Ever. Even when she spoke to Satine, Satine spoke to her as if she was a baby. That was all Bo would ever be to Satine. Her baby sister. 

Lottie was staring at her. “That just…” 

“That just what…?” 

“Doesn’t seem at all like my uncle.” Lottie was giving her a look. A look that Bo didn’t like.

“He wants to train me to be a warrior. It’s not like Satine’s going to,” Bo’s voice broke. “No one in my family ever wanted me to be me. They wanted me to be Satine. Even Satine does. I can’t be Satine. You…” No one would know what it felt like to be compared with someone you could never beat. She remembered once when she had made a piece of art for their mother and she had brushed it aside and said something about how Satine was working on some kind of economic package and how hopefully Bo would be like her one day.

As soon as she thought this, she felt bad since it wasn’t nice to think negatively about the dead. 

“Okay… Okay fine. It’s just weird since he’s never like this, but maybe he just wants you to be one of us.” 

“One of you?” Bo asked, not sure what she meant by that. Maybe it was nothing. 

“A warrior and not a pacifist like your sister.” Lottie didn’t even have to hesitate to answer it. 

“You shouldn’t… You shouldn’t insult Satine,” Bo’s voice sounded weird to her once again. Like it didn’t belong to her. “She’s—”

“Relax, Bo Bo,” Lottie said. “I’m just saying you’re different and Satine’s fine, even though she has a Jedi fetish.” 

“I…”

“Just be careful.” Lottie surprised Bo and hugged her. “And you should know that I’ll be here for you. You’re more important to me than my uncle.” 

“But he’s your—”

“We’re sisters, remember?” Lottie said. “Remember when we were little in the Civil War? You and me with Orie and Tia?” 

“I’ll never forget.” 

And Bo never would. 

“Just remember that if my weird uncle trains you,” Lottie said.

“He’s not weird.” 

Lottie sighed like Bo was a child. Oh, how she was used to this sound. Even Satine wasn’t as good as making it as Lottie was. “You just don’t know him well enough.” 

Bo bit one of her nails, still staying quiet about how she knew him better than Lottie might think. If Lottie thought Pre was that weird then it would be better if she didn’t say something, especially if Lottie decided to tell her sister. 

That didn’t seem like Lottie but…

“Sure he’s not.” 

Bo shook her head. “Let’s just act normal until we have to leave. Don’t say anything to my sister or Korkie. Korkie tells her everything.” 

“Like I would tell a child anything.” 

And so for the next few hours they acted normal. Well, normal enough. Lottie actually talked to Satine and convinced her to give her some of her old romance novels. Bo couldn’t help but laugh at Lottie who glared at her.

“Don’t be a snob, Bo-Katan,” Lottie said. “There is nothing wrong with liking romance novels.”

“I—” 

“Or maybe you just wouldn’t know that now since you’re still a child,” Lottie said. 

They were less than three years apart! Was she always going to be this way? Probably, sadly. And that was how she was the next couple hours, even when they left Satine and Korkie. At least she didn’t try to lecture her more about Pre. Also, when they went to Bo’s friend for a short time, she didn’t act like she was so much more mature and actually acted normal. 

However, she wasn’t as agreeable when they had to leave.

“We should just stay here,” Lottie said as Bo pulled her outside. “It’s much more fun here than with my uncle and his… people.” 

“I need to train.” 

Lottie gave her a look. “Why?” 

Bo stopped. “What do you mean why?” 

“I mean you have everything. You’re basically a princess. Maybe you should just accept it and be—” 

“I need to be able to train so I can protect my family and Mandalore,” Bo said. This was obvious. What was wrong with Lottie? She used to understand her but now she was… different. 

“You won’t need to protect Mandalore if it is neutral and peaceful like your sister wants,” Lottie said, rolling her eyes. “Instead, you can do whatever you want.” 

Bo studied her. “What’s wrong with you?” 

“What’s wrong with me? You don’t even know what you might be getting involved in.” Lottie groaned and pulled at her hair. “Stars, Bo.” 

“What do you mean?” Bo asked. 

“I mean… I don’t mean anything. It’s just you could be having fun.” 

So she had nothing. She was just… Bo didn’t know why she didn’t want her to be training with her uncle. Maybe she was jealous. Pre was a good fighter and warrior, and he didn’t think Lottie had much potential. 

And besides Bo was doing what was fun for her. She was training. 

“So you want to be a pacifist like Satine?” Bo asked. 

“No, I’m just…” Lottie shrugged. “Never mind. Let’s just go. Just stay close to me when we’re at Concordia.” 

As if. She was going to train whereas Lottie would probably want to spend time with her imaginary boyfriend. Luckily Bo’s friend’s place was close to where the ship was supposed to pick them up. Lottie crossed her arms and sat on a bench looking angry and annoyed but at least she didn’t complain or say anything. 

At least Bo thought that was a good thing until they had been on the ship for awhile and she was still silent. She didn’t even pick up her romance novel. 

“Are you really that upset?” Bo asked. The two of them had left the pilot alone and gone into a different room not far away. Or rather Lottie had and Bo had gone after her. This room was more of a game room and had Sabaac, which Bo thought was fun but had only played a few times. 

It wasn’t like Lottie would play with her now though. 

“No, I just think you’re being stupid.” Lottie didn’t even look at her and picked up the romance novel which she started to read. 

“Well, if I am, it’s because you’ve rubbed off on me.” 

Lottie let out a laugh. “Very funny, Bo-Katan.” 

Whatever. Bo wasn’t in the mood to put up with this. If Lottie wanted to be this way, then fine. Bo didn’t have a book like Lottie so she ended up just looking at some of the games. She almost wished she knew a card game that she could play by herself, but she didn’t. 

When they finally got to Concordia, Bo was relieved. Lottie sighed and stood up. “Let me do the talking.” 

“What? I talk to your uncle all the time.” 

“Great,” Lottie muttered. The two of them didn’t say anything else, but she grabbed her arm as if she was trying to restrain some wild animal. Just great. What had gotten into Lottie? 

Pre was waiting for them outside the ship. Bo smiled when she saw him. She was glad he had given her his con info and they had talked on the HoloNet. He seemed to understand her more than anyone else. Satine didn’t and Satine never had time for her anyway. 

“Bo-Katan, I’m glad you finally could come,” Pre said. 

“I’ve been trying to do training on my own,” Bo said, putting her hands behind her back and leaning on the heels of her feet. “I’ve been doing a lot of blaster firing practice.”

He came over and put his hand on her shoulder. “You can show me how you’ve improved.” 

“Why are you acting nice?” Lottie asked. 

Pre finally looked at her. “Why would you even ask—”

“Because you’re an asshole,” Lottie said. “You wouldn’t be acting nice unless you wanted something. And you wouldn’t be hanging out with a teenager unless—” 

“I want to give back to the youth,” Pre said, moving his hand away from Bo-Katan. “And Bo-Katan is special.” 

“Bo-Katan is special,” Lottie mocked. Maybe she really was jealous, but it didn’t make sense at the same time since she hated her uncle. None of this made sense. 

“Quiet, Lottie,” Pre said. “Your parents are here by the way.” 

“What?” Lottie asked. Her eyes widened. 

“Yes, you should go see them. They’re at my place. I told them you’d probably be coming.” 

She looked at the house which looked more like a mansion and then back to Pre and Bo-Katan. “Okay, well then I want Bo-Katan to come with me.” 

“Stars! What do you think I’m going to do, Lottie?” He glared at her. “And you shouldn’t be this disrespectful to me. I’m—” 

“I know who you are,” Lottie said, standing up straight probably in an attempt to look taller. It didn’t work. “I know exactly who you are, Uncle.” 

“You think that just because you’re my sister’s daughter that you can treat me however you want and act however you want. It doesn’t protect you. This…” And that was when Pre looked at Bo who didn’t know what to say or to do. “And this is rude to discuss in front of Bo-Katan. She’s a guest. Have you ever been to Concordia before, Bo-Katan?” 

She shook her head. “No.” 

“See, we’re wasting the little amount of time she has here.” He put his arm around her shoulder. “And I’m just going to train Bo-Katan a bit. You can catch up with us if you want to be agreeable for once.” 

Lottie shot him once last glare but then went storming to the mansion.

“My apologies. Lottie’s not the brightest star in the galaxy.” 

“She’s… I don’t know why she’s acting this way,” Bo said. “I thought she’d be happy to be here.” Since her imaginary boyfriend in theory was around. 

“Don’t concern yourself with her,” Pre said. He smiled at her. “I got you something.” 

“You did?” Bo hadn’t been expecting something like that. “You didn’t have to get me anything.” 

“Well I did.” He pulled out a blaster… wait, no, that wasn’t a blaster. “It’s a slugthrower. A weapon used—” 

“Against the Jedi in wars we fought against them.” Bo took the weapon from him. She had never actually used one of these and had only seen them a few times. “They can’t use their lightsabers to deflect shots from this.” 

“Exactly. I thought you’d like it since you like weapons, like any real Mandalorian does, and you like history.” 

“I do. I do like it.” Bo looked at it. It really was nice. Not like something any of her friends had. She would have loved something like this when she was a kid and was terrified of Jedi. “Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome. You probably don’t want to tell Duchess Satine about this.” 

“You don’t need to tell me that,” Bo sighed. “Satine doesn’t understand things like this. She’s… so…” 

“Your sister’s a…” Pre stopped as if he thought better of it.

“She’s what?” 

“Do you agree with your sister’s politics, Bo-Katan?” 

Bo bit the inside of her mouth. This wasn’t the kind of thing that she was supposed to answer. “Well I’m supposed to say that I do. She’s my sister.” There. Some kind of an answer. 

“Interesting, but do you really?” 

Bo paused. “I… I don’t think it’s very realistic. Peace. But she’d say that she’s older and—” 

“Just because she’s older doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “You can be just as smart as she is. And lots of people do believe it’s unrealistic and dangerous even.” 

Bo nodded, but something about this felt wrong. But it was what she believed. Bo studied history and Mandalore was always at war. If long term peace was possible, it would have happened already. Right? She thought so. 

“She’s just not like you. She’s not as Mandalorian as you are.” Bo was about to tell him that Satine was in fact just as Mandalorian, but she didn’t get the chance. “Let’s go train now. You could use some real practice.” 

Bo just nodded and followed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Hope this chapter is okay. I'm not sure about it!


	24. Chapter 24

Bo thought she would get caught by her sister when she went back home. She was late to get back, but her sister didn’t even seem to notice. She was too busy with something that she refused to tell her about. And when Lottie left, it was like Bo was alone for the rest of the summer, except when she could sneak off to Concordia, which she could do a lot more than she thought she would be able to. 

When school started, she spent even less time with Satine and Korkie. Her sister hardly seemed to notice when she turned fourteen. She did get her armor finally fixed so it fit her, but Satine even made that seem like it wasn’t a big deal. And it probably wasn’t to Satine. Only to Bo-Katan. 

Her sister… she was just too busy. Bo shouldn’t blame her. Mandalore was more important than Bo was, and she knew that and yet… It wasn’t like she wasn’t with Korkie constantly. She only expected for her sister to tell Korkie that he was her kid. Maybe then they could get rid of her and could be a perfect family. 

Obviously, Bo couldn’t be around for that. She would just ruin things. The sad orphan sister. Once she talked to Pre about it when she was visiting Concordia. 

“Your sister, she’s…” Pre paused and looked at her. They had been practicing sword fights. He always beat her, which she couldn’t stand. She wanted to defeat him at least once. 

“She’s what?” Bo asked. 

“You’re probably right that she wishes you weren’t there.”

Bo almost dropped her sword she had been using when he said that. “What?” She had thought he would tell her that she was wrong and that her sister wanted her around. “Isn’t she just busy with her job—” 

“But she’s making time for her nephew Korkie.” 

Bo hadn’t told him that Korkie was really Satine’s son. The thought about doing it so many times, but she just couldn’t do that to Satine. 

“I… He’s… different.” Way more than just different. “She likes him more than me. He’s more… like her.” That was true but wasn’t the reason that Satine preferred Korkie. 

“Yeah, your sister. I’m sure she thinks she’s doing what’s best but…” He stopped and smirked. “I shouldn’t continue. I don’t want to speak badly about your sister.” He smirked again and his eyes lit up. “I know how much you admire her.” 

“I don’t admire her,” Bo spat out. It was… complicated. In a way, she did look up to Satine, but in another way, the more time she spent with Pre, the more she learned about how other Mandalorians thought. And it aligned more with what she thought and yet… “It’s… It’s just—” 

“I know how it is,” Pre said and then he swung his sword at her. Bo barely managed to block it. “Good job. I thought for sure you would have your defense down.” 

Bo tried to hit him. “Never.”

“I’m sure you do admire Satine though. After all she’s your sister and I’m sure you want to be just like her. A little pacifist.” He tried to hit her again and once again she barely managed to block it. “And you—” 

“I’m not going to be like her. I… I don’t believe what she does.” It felt good saying that out loud because she couldn’t usually. When her mother had been alive, well… Bo just knew not to say that. 

“You know things are going to change, Bo-Katan,” Pre said. 

“What do you mean?” 

Pre grinned at her and she thought that he would tell her exactly what he meant, but then he attacked again. And this time, he didn’t hold back. Bo tried to block, she really did, but she wasn’t good enough and soon fell on her back, hitting her head against the wood floor. Pre laughed.

“You still have a lot to learn, Bo-Katan.” 

Bo sat up and rubbed the back of her head. “I could wear my helmet and—” 

“You don’t need to for this,” he said. “Besides, some enemies can take that off with a sword or a lightsaber. You need to be prepared.” 

“I will be.” 

And that was when he actually pulled out the Darksaber and ignited and pointed it at her. She couldn’t even move at first. She was shocked. 

“You know, Bo-Katan. You really do need to always be careful. You never know who is going to betray you.” 

“You…” It wasn’t going to be enough, but she grabbed her sword again. The Darksaber would cut through it. And it wasn’t like she would have been able to beat him, even if she had a lightsaber. 

But Pre couldn’t be serious. He couldn’t kill her. Her sister would find out and then… Maybe Satine wouldn’t do anything. She wouldn’t want to start conflict. She never did with anyone. But he still wouldn’t hurt her. He was nice to her. The closest she had to a father. 

“Are you thinking about your sister?” Pre asked. He moved the Darksaber even closer to her. She could feel the warmth radiating from it. “Because if you think she would do anything for you if you were killed or taken, then you’re wrong. That wouldn’t keep the peace. And violence isn’t the New Mandalorian way.” 

“You can’t… you can’t say things like that.” She scooted backward. “And my sister would do something.” 

No, Mandalore was more important to her than family. And Bo should be okay with it. Part of her was but… 

“You think so?” Pre asked. 

Bo couldn’t get anything out. He wasn’t really going to hurt her, right? He couldn’t do that to her. Not after everything. No, she knew him, and he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. 

And sure enough, he offered her his hand and then pulled her up. “I frightened you. I apologize. I just wanted you to know the sort of thing people would say. You need to be brave, Bo-Katan.” 

But it hurt and she never thought he would threaten her like that. 

“No, I’m never afraid,” Bo scowled, but she had been for a moment. For a moment, she had remembered what Satine said about not trusting men. Even if this wasn’t the kind of thing Satine had imagined. “I’m not afraid of anything.” 

“Maybe you should be.” But then he laughed again. “Or at least you should be prepared for betrayal.” He paused. “I never actually would hurt you, but you can’t be sure about other people, even friends or family.” 

Or family. A lump formed in her throat. Obviously Satine would never physically hurt her. Her mother might have slapped her sometimes and grabbed her arm too hard when she was little which left bruises, but Satine never did anything to physically hurt her. There had been times when Bo knew she probably deserved it, but Satine still didn’t. She was nicer than most older siblings. 

But even if she wouldn’t physically hurt her, she still could emotionally. 

“I… I really am not afraid of anything,” Bo said. She bit on her lip. She wanted to change the topic. This… she just didn’t like where this was going. 

“Okay then, Bo-Katan.” 

She took a step back and grabbed her sword tighter. What he had done… She had thought that he might actually hurt her at first. The way he had looked at her… It was as if she was an animal he caught in a trap. An animal that he wanted to devour. 

“Oh, Bo-Katan, Bo-Katan, Bo-Katan. I’m really am sorry. I was just training you, but I should have thought better of it. You’re still a little girl.” 

“I’m fourteen,” Bo muttered. She had recently turned fourteen.

He looked at the Darksaber and then turned it off and offered it to her. “You’ve always been fascinated by it, right? Lottie has told me all about it.” 

“I… I know it’s important for Mandalore.” But it was much more than that. The Darksaber represented so much. 

“I’m not going to let you be the Mand’alor.” He laughed. “You’d have to win it in combat, but you can hold it and try it out.” She paused and didn’t take it. It just…. Didn’t seem right. She never thought that he would actually let her hold it. She assumed that she would have to just be able to see it. 

And apparently have Pre threaten her with it. 

That… she… she couldn’t believe he had done that, but he must have just done it to help her be stronger and more prepared. 

“But I’m going to let you hold it. Consider it an apology.” 

She paused again and then she took it from him. She didn’t hesitate to turn it on. It felt exactly how she imagined it would and also different. She did feel the history in it. The weapon was old. Much older than most lightsabers. It was also heavier than she thought it would be. She always imagined that lightsabers and the Darksaber by default would be light, but no, it wasn’t. 

Something about it… she thought holding it would feel unnatural but something about it felt right. Like she was meant to have it and yet… 

She swung it through the air, imagining the fights it had been with. It had been used against hundreds if not thousands of enemies of Mandalore. It had killed many people. People who deserved it for hurting her world. 

“Aren’t you adorable with—” 

“I’m not adorable,” Bo said. It made her sound like a child and she didn’t like it. And besides he was probably mocking her. Sometimes, he did this, even though she looked up to him, and he normally seemed to like her. 

Normally. 

“Well, you look…” He paused. “Cute… with the Darksaber, but playtime is over and you need to give it back now.” 

Bo smirked and now pointed it at him. She wanted to get a reaction from him. A similar reaction that he got from her, but instead he laughed. 

“You don’t have it in you, Bo-Katan. Not yet, or at least you don’t have it in you to kill me.” 

She sighed and turned it off and gave it back to him. 

He put it away and then put his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Bo-Katan. We’ll get any parts of Satine out of you. There is still plenty of time.”

Bo had no idea what to think or say about that, but she found herself nodding. It was probably for the best. She loved Satine, but she was soft in many ways. She wasn’t the warrior that Bo was. 

*** 

This weekend, Bo was actually supposed to go to palace on Saturday and so she couldn’t just tell Satine that she was going to stay at the Academy like she usually did on weekends. For some reason Satine was really pushing for her to come home to the palace this weekend so she had to cut her trip short from Concordia, which she didn’t like. 

Even if Pre had done that thing with the Darksaber. For a moment when he had her on the ground, she thought he might hurt her with it. That she had been stupid, but he had just been trying to train her. 

But the look in his eyes, Bo hadn’t seen anyone look at her that way in so long. It reminded her of when she had been a child and her house had been attacked. When she thought she was going to die. And that she couldn’t help anyone in her family. 

That just made her want to train even harder. 

She got back from Concordia, later than she was supposed to. But she just had to hope that Satine wouldn’t notice. She never did. 

Except when she walked into the living area there, Satine was waiting and had an eyebrow raised. “Where were you?” 

“What?” Bo asked. “I was at the Academy.” She lived there during the week and most weekends. Or she would have lived there most weekends if she didn’t sneak off to go to Concordia. 

“No, you weren’t.” Satine put her hands on her hips. “I contacted them, and they said you left yesterday.” 

Dank Farrik. The last thing she needed was Satine to get suspicious. But if she could come up with a believable lie, then she’d probably forget all about this soon. She had more important things to worry about. 

“I… Okay, so I went to one of my friend’s,” Bo said with a sigh. 

“Why would you lie about that?” Satine asked. She still didn’t believe her. It was obvious by how she was studying her. The way she was looking at Bo, it was like Satine had Jedi powers and wanted to sense if she was lying. 

“I… Her parents were gone and she… she invited some boys over and they had alcohol.” Bo put her hands in her pockets and shifted her weight from one foot to another. “But I promise, I didn’t do anything, Satine.” 

Satine looked at her and then sighed and shook her head. “Bo-Katan.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Just… just don’t next time,” she sighed yet again as if she was so very disappointed in her. She would be a lot more upset if she knew the truth. “And you shouldn’t lie to me, Bo-Katan. I understand what you’re going through. I was your age once.” 

Yeah, like a million years ago, still Bo nodded. 

“I really didn’t drink or do anything. Can you test for alcohol? You can have me tested if you want.” She hoped she wouldn’t because Pre did let her have a little bit of alcohol last night. That was the first time an adult had let her. 

“No, I trust you,” Satine said. “Just don’t lie to me again.” 

“I won’t. I promise I won’t.” Yes, she was lying, but it wasn’t like she had much of a choice. 

Satine sighed and then reached out for her as if she wanted to take her hands. Bo pulled away. This wasn’t good. Something was up. This was when she realized that Korkie wasn’t here either. Great… Yeah, this was going to be bad. Really bad.

“What’s going on?” Bo asked. “You decided to get rid of me?” 

Satine’s eyes widened. “What? Why would you ask that?” 

“I… No reason.” Bo muttered, wishing she had kept her mouth closed. It was just Pre would tell her that Satine probably wished she wasn’t with her and she couldn’t just forget that. 

Satine gave her a look. “You should sit down. I do have something important to tell you, but I’m not going to get rid of you, Bo. I wouldn’t do that to you.” 

“Okay…” Bo said, leaning back on the heals of her feet. She hoped that was true, but yet she had trouble believing it. Sometimes she would think about how much easier it would be for Satine if she did get rid of her, and Pre even confirmed that was true when she mentioned it to him. 

“I… There has been some complication when it comes to the person who… who killed our mother.” 

“You mean murdered her?” Bo crossed her arms over her chest. It still wasn’t fair that the person who killed their mother wasn’t suffering as much as he deserved. Bo’s mother was dead because of him, but Bo was sure that his time in prison wasn’t that bad. He should have to feel the pain that their mother had. 

And that Bo still felt. 

“Yes.” Satine put her hand on her shoulder and this time Bo allowed it. 

“What’s going on?” Bo asked. 

“He’s… There has been some political complications—” 

“Just say what you mean, Satine!” She didn’t want to wait for her to stop dancing around the subject. She needed to get to the point. 

“He’s not Mandalorian and his world… well his aunt is important to the other world. We don’t want to start political trouble with—"

“So what? I don’t care how important his family is. He killed our mother! What about our family?!” His family should have to be separated from him. They should have to lose him. Just like Bo had lost her mother. 

“Bo…” 

“You better not give him back to his world! I don’t care how kriffing important he is! I don’t care, Satine!” 

“I’m… Don’t worry, I’m working on it.”

Oh, but she was worried now. Very worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.


	25. Chapter 25

Bo couldn’t believe Satine. She could tell that she was considering giving their mom’s murderer back to his world and that just couldn’t happen. How could she even consider that? Yes, Mandalore, but was it best for Mandalore to let other worlds and systems push them around? That wasn’t the Mandalorian way! Worlds and systems and sectors used to fear Mandalore. They would never do anything to hurt them.

But now… 

How could she do this? Bo was doing her best to avoid going back to the Palace. And when she did, she would try and get information from her sister. Her sister never said anything about it. She would talk to Pre about it and he had no problem telling her what he thought. 

“Your sister is soft,” he said once after he had been training her. “And she’s going to do whatever is easier.” 

“She…” Bo wanted to defend her, even though she had been thinking the same thing the last couple months. Maybe she shouldn’t be trying to defend her sister. How could she even consider giving that criminal back to his world. Did Satine know how much Bo hurt? Bo would have thought she would have hurt more than her. 

After all, their mother actually liked Satine. 

Bo was… not what their mother wanted. She was Kortney’s replacement and their mother would have preferred that her third child have been born a boy. Instead, she got another girl. 

But Satine had been her perfect child, at least before she got pregnant. But even after she eventually thought that again. 

And now… and now… 

“Don’t defend her,” Pre said. He went over and put his hand on her shoulder. He did this a lot now. She liked it. She liked that someone would touch her. Satine used to hug her but she didn’t see her a lot which was probably Bo’s fault. And when she did see her, they would fight about the person who killed their mother, politics and everything. 

Bo wished that things could be like they used to be and yet…

“She’s wrong about everything,” Pre said. “She thinks that she can just try and keep the peace even if it hurts our people.” 

Bo bit her lip hard enough that it bled. She didn’t mind the pain. She never did anymore. Today she got some bad bruises. Pre had made a comment about how she should have had her helmet on, but he had told her not to. She could only imagine what people would say if they saw. 

Well at school at least she could tell them she got it from practicing fighting. Though they might not believe her since they knew who her sister was. But they wouldn’t say anything. 

“I… I know,” Bo said. “She’s… She’s wrong.” Normally no one would expect her to say something like that. At school they all thought that she would be one hundred percent on Satine’s side. People sometimes seemed afraid to talk to her because of who her sister was. And then there were the people who tried to be her friend because of her sister. She didn’t know which was worse. 

She wished people wanted to know her because of who she was and liked her for who she was. Not because of who her sister was. 

“Yes, she is wrong.” Pre brushed her hair out of her face. “If she releases that guy… maybe I can do something for you.” 

“What?” Bo didn’t know what he could do to help her. She didn’t know what she would do if her sister did cave and released that murderer. She would never forgive her. Satine shouldn’t even consider releasing him. It wasn’t good for Mandalore if they did whatever any other system wanted. 

And it wasn’t good for their family. Shouldn’t that matter to Satine?

“I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise, Bo-Katan.” 

“But I want—” 

“And besides, maybe you’re not going to need me to do anything,” Pre said. “Maybe your sister will do what’s right.” 

“But it seems like she’s not,” Bo said. “She really…” She covered her face, but then realized that it made her look emotional. Pre wouldn’t like that. Bo wanted to hide all her emotions. That was what a good Mandalorian did, right? “I hope she makes the right choice.” 

Pre smirked. He opened his mouth to say something else, but that was when someone else walked in the room they always trained in. Ursa. Ursa Wren. She stared at the two of them, looking as confused as Bo felt. Sometimes she saw other people here, but it was never people she knew. They always left the two of them alone too.

“Bo-Katan?” Ursa asked, raising an eyebrow. “What are you doing here?” 

“I… What are you doing here?” Bo asked. She just couldn’t believe it. Wasn’t she supposed to be on Krownest? 

“I’m… Aren’t you kind of young to be in De—” 

“You’re the one who isn’t supposed to be in here, Ursa,” Pre said. He went over and grabbed her arm. Ursa gave him a blank expression. 

“I was told to get you. For something important.” She glanced at Bo and then back at Pre. “She doesn’t know, right?” 

Pre didn’t even answer. She didn’t know what? What was being kept from her? Why were people always keeping secrets from her?

“She’s…” Ursa shook her head. “I need to talk to you.” 

“Can’t you—” 

“Shut up, Bo-Katan,” Pre snapped. 

She wanted to cringe. He never spoke to her like that. No one had in a long time. Her mother used to, but she was dead. But Pre… She thought…

He gave her a forced looking smile and then went over to Ursa. “I’ll be back soon, Bo.” 

Bo didn’t say anything and stared at him. He left her alone in the training room. She paused. Really, she should be good and not do anything. He would be back soon and then… she didn’t know… maybe they could go back to training. She should head back to Mandalore soon too. Pre would be furious if she snooped around and yet… 

She wanted to know what Ursa said she didn’t. 

When she went to the door, it was locked. Pre had actually locked her in? That was… rude. But luckily she knew how to pick simple locks. She had actually put some clips in her hair to keep it from falling in her face so she took one out and set to work on the lock. Click. Unlocked. She couldn’t help but smile. 

Perfect. 

She would have to be fast. She didn’t want to disappoint Pre, so he would just have to not find out that she was sneaking around his place. He had given her a tour before and she figured if she was going to find out something juicy she could start in his office. 

She hurried through his place, trying to make as little sound as possible. She was good at it. She used to always sneak around at night when she was supposed to be sleeping. She still did it sometimes at the Academy with her roommate, not that they ever did much. Usually, they just got snacks or met up with other friends. 

No one ever caught them at the Academy. And she would make damn sure that she wasn’t caught by Pre. 

She got to his office and instantly started to snoop around. He had a lot of work things there. Things about governing Concordia. This… this wasn’t helpful. She already knew all about this. There were some drawers that were locked. Bo tried to get them open, but they wouldn’t budge. She tried to pick the locks but they were too complex. 

“Dank Farrik,” she whispered to herself. She was going to have to try something else. And the best way to get information was probably to spy on Ursa and Pre. Pre probably thought that she was still locked in that room. He wouldn’t think she would disobey him either. If she was careful he would never look.

She thought it would be hard to find Ursa and Pre, but she saw them outside the house. She would just have to sneak out the back door and then hide behind a bush. The only problem was there was snow, and it would leave foot prints, but Pre would have no reason to check to see if she was spying. Just her luck that it had snowed here this day when it usually didn’t. 

Still, she crept out, making sure to walk slowly so the snow didn’t make too many crunching sounds. At least it wasn’t very deep. She paused after each step to make sure something hadn’t changed. She would hurry back inside if something had, but nope. Soon she was close enough to hear them. She hid behind a large bush. 

“You could have waited to tell me this,” Pre said, annoyance in his voice. “You know I’m busy right now.” 

“They wanted me to tell you right away,” Ursa said with a sigh. “Why is Bo-Katan here?” 

“That really doesn’t concern you, Wren.”

“She’s the Duchess’s sister.” 

Bo liked Ursa, but that was a stupid comment to make. Everyone knew who she was related to, especially Pre. They talked about her sister all the time. He was the only person who seemed to like her better than Satine. 

“Of course, I know that.” Pre said something else, but Bo couldn’t make out the words, even though she wanted to hear. 

“You… You don’t want her to join…” Bo couldn’t see Ursa well given that Bo was in a bush, but she did notice her taking a step back. “She’s—” 

“She’s old enough to join,” Pre said. “She’s fourteen. Mandalorians who were younger have fought in wars. There have been rulers who are younger than she is.” 

“Yes, but still.” Ursa touched one of her braids. “She’s Duchess Kryze’s—”

“I know how old she is and who she’s related to, Wren.” 

“But you still want her to join Death Watch?” 

Death Watch… Death Watch. Bo let out a small gasp. Only for a second and then she covered her mouth. Stupid! Bo had to have heard wrong. There was just no way. It was impossible. Pre and Ursa in Death Watch. Death Watch were terrorists. They… Satine always said they were under control but still. But still! How could Pre and Ursa be in it?

And yet there was some part of her that thought that maybe just maybe….

But no! That wasn’t possible. Pre wouldn’t. He couldn’t. 

Someone grabbed her, yanking her out of the bush. She let out a small cry, trying to get away. It was Pre. She was stupid. She should never have made that noise. 

“What the kriff do you think you’re doing, Bo-Katan!” Pre yanked her even harder. She was so close to him. Close enough to smell his fancy cologne. “You were spying on me!” 

“I wasn’t spying! I wasn’t! I didn’t hear anything.” 

“You weren’t spying?” Pre laughed, but there wasn’t any humor in it. It caused goosebumps to form over her arms, not the good kind. “Do you think I’m stupid? I know exactly what you were doing!” 

“I just wanted to know where you had gone. I didn’t hear anything!” She tried to get away. She was tempted to kick him in the groin, but he had armor and then where would she go anyway? She was stuck on this moon. 

And besides, she didn’t want to believe that what she heard was right. Or maybe even if it was, he could explain it. Maybe it could make sense somehow. 

“I’m sure that’s a lie too. You little…”

“Bo-Katan!” Ursa said, letting out a cry. 

Somehow that caused Pre to let her go. Bo didn’t feel relief, but she took a few steps backward, knowing that wouldn’t be enough. 

“You did hear something because I heard you gasp,” Pre spat out. “You need to get better on your stealth, Bo-Katan.” 

Bo didn’t say anything and just glared at him. 

“You heard about Death Watch,” Pre said. “You heard that Ursa and I are in it.” 

Bo still remained quiet, but this just confirmed it. He was supposed to deny it. It… It didn’t make sense but then it did. She just didn’t want it to. 

“I know you’ve been told all sorts of shit from your sister about Death Watch.” He was wrong. Satine didn’t talk about them all that much, or at least she didn’t talk about them to Bo, not that she was going to tell him anything about that. “But we care about Mandalore. We’re trying to return Mandalore to glory. To its warrior way of life. You should agree with that, Bo-Katan. I know you do.” 

“My sister—” 

“Don’t pretend like you believe any of the shit she tells you,” Pre said. “You’re more than that.” 

She didn’t agree with Satine. Not at all. Bo might only be fourteen, but she knew that Satine’s views were idealistic and wouldn’t work in the long run. And it just wasn’t the true way of Mandalore. 

But she wasn’t going to say this. 

“You know I’m right,” Pre said. “And you could be—” 

“I want to go home,” Bo-Katan said. 

“She’s going to tell her sister,” Ursa muttered. Bo could barely even hear her, and she wasn’t convinced that Pre would be able to. 

“No, she’s not,” Pre said. He lunged toward Bo, but she avoided him easily. “She’s not going to tell the Duchess, because the Duchess doesn’t care about her, not really.” 

How dare he say something like this? Yes, she had told him that she felt this way, but… She just hated hearing it back. She hated having it be used against her. Her own words. 

“But I believe in you, Bo-Katan. I know you can be more than people give you credit for,” Pre said. Ursa made a weird huffing noise, but Pre didn’t even look at her. Bo didn’t either. “I believe in you more than your family, and I care about you.” 

“You… you want me to join Death Watch?” She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. She couldn’t do something like that to Satine. And she just… it wasn’t something she could do. 

“Maybe one day.” But Bo knew that was what he wanted. Maybe what he had always wanted. “But right now what I want is for you to keep your mouth closed.” 

Satine would want to know this. Satine should know this. If she didn’t tell her… Stars, what would that make her?

“You shouldn’t say anything, Bo,” Ursa said in a small voice. “He…Just trust me and don’t mention it.” 

“Yes, you shouldn’t because I could make your life hard. I wouldn’t want to do that because I care about you, Bo-Katan. I really do.” He reached out and touched her cheek and this time she allowed it. His hands were cold and she wanted to flinch away. “I know you could be special. You already are, but this…” He shook his head. “Unlike some people, Mandalore means more to me than anything, including you.”

“Seriously, just keep this quiet, Bo,” Ursa said. 

Bo bit her lip and just looked at the two of them. She was sure that they wanted a response, but she wasn’t going to give it them. 

“And if you keep quiet, I can reward you. Your sister is going to give your mother’s murderer back to his home planet and then he’ll go free. Or at least that’s what would happen, but I can give you what you deserve, Bo. I can give you what any real Mandalorian would want.” 

“What does that mean?” Bo finally asked. 

He touched her cheek again. “I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but you’ll like it. Trust me, you’ll like it.” 

“I want to go back to Mandalore,” Bo said, trying and succeeding at not showing any emotion in her voice. Part of her was worried Pre would refuse. Maybe he would make her stay. No one knew she was here. She kept it a secret since she didn’t want Satine to find out. 

Now she wished she would have at least told her roommate. 

But Pre nodded. “Fine, but remember what I said.” He paused. “About the reward and making your life harder if you talk. I can make you and your family’s life hell.” He touched her face. “And besides, do you really want to ruin what we have. I’m there for you when no one else is. I care about your more than anyone else.” 

Bo couldn’t even bring herself to say anything.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bo gets bad news when she goes back to Mandalore.

Bo half expected that Pre would change his mind and make her stay on Concordia. To avoid this, she hurried as fast as she could to the ship. The sooner she got to Mandalore the better. And then… she would do something…

The whole flight back, she kept thinking about what she should do. Pre acted… different and yet he had still been the only one who was really there for her recently. But he wasn’t her family. He wasn’t Satine. 

As for Death Watch, Bo agreed that her sister was wrong. Her sister’s peace could never last. Mandalore was going to get weaker the longer it lasted. Other worlds and systems would want to take advantage of them. Didn’t Satine see that? But she was still her sister and she was the Duchess of Mandalore. 

So she knew what she had to do, even though it caused her stomach to twist. She didn’t want to betray Pre. Death Watch wasn’t even that bad, right? Sometimes she wasn’t even sure they were bad and maybe they were doing what was actually right for Mandalore but… she didn’t know. It was confusing. She had trusted and liked Pre, and she still did? 

Why couldn’t things be less confusing? Like when she was… not little… They had been confusing then too. She just wished things could be less confusing like they never were.

When she got back to Mandalore, she didn’t say anything to anyone. She just wanted to get back to the Academy and think. She hoped her roommate wasn’t there. All she wanted was a little bit of time alone. 

But as soon as she walked into their room, not only was her roommate there but Fenn Rau. She blinked, trying not to react, but if he was here maybe something horrible had happened. 

“Fenn?” she asked. 

“Where were you, Bo?” Ca'tra, her roommate, asked. “Your protector has been here for awhile.” Judging by how Ca’tra was looking at him, she really didn’t mind. 

Bo couldn’t blame her. Fenn was cute. Really, really cute. With his eyes the color of the sky. Sometimes she felt she could look into them for hours. Stars, she shouldn’t be thinking about something this silly right now. 

And it wasn’t like Fenn would want anything to do with her, at least now right now. He wasn’t seventeen yet and she was fourteen, but he was already a protector. He had a job, and Bo didn’t. But still… Bo couldn’t help but look at his eyes. So blue. 

And sometimes late at night, she couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like if he kissed her. She imagined he would be a good kisser and his lips looked so soft. So soft and… 

“Yes, where were—” Fenn tried to ask, which snapped her out of her daydreaming about kissing Fenn. 

“You never told me you had such a cute protector,” Ca’tra said. “I’m jealous. You have all the luck, Bo-Katan.” 

Fenn actually blushed and Bo smiled, only for a second, but she still couldn’t help it. 

“I don’t see him that much.” Bo tried not to blush herself. She needed to keep cool. 

“That’s too bad,” Ca’tra said. 

“Maybe it is,” Bo said and then she did blush. For a moment this conversation was a distraction from everything else that was going on. “I mean… he’s better than the other ones. They’re… out of touch.” 

“Thanks, Lady Bo-Katan.” 

“You don’t have to call me that,” Bo said. So maybe he wasn’t as in touch as she thought. She had told him before that he could just call her Bo-Katan or Bo. “It’s… weird.” 

“Sorry, Bo-Katan,” he said. Good, now hopefully he would keep calling her that. Lady Bo-Katan might be better than Lady Kryze, but it still reminded her of her sister. 

“So why are you here?” Bo asked. She put her bag on her bed, hoping that Fenn wouldn’t ask questions about what was in it. 

“Your sister wants to speak to you.”

Bo tried not to react, even though she almost did. How could Satine know what had happened? No, she didn’t. There was just no way. This was about something else. It was just bad luck. 

And if Satine knew what had happened… well… she would be here herself. If she knew that she had been on Concordia, she would be here herself. She probably wouldn’t yell at her here, but she would drag her to the palace. 

“Does she need to speak to me right now?” Bo asked. “I have a lot of homework and I should get to work on it.” She didn’t have any, but she needed to sort out her thoughts. Talking to Satine… It would make things worse. 

She might just want to tell her what was going on. And maybe she should do that. That was what a girl sister would do. But was that what a good Mandalorian would do? She clutched her head. Mandalore was more important than anything, right? 

“Yes, she wants to speak to you as soon as possible and that was hours ago.” Great… Now Satine would be annoyed with her. She had Pre Vizsla freak out and act… almost scary around her and now Satine would be mad. 

Taking it… It was going to be a lot. 

“Fine, let’s go then,” Bo said with a sigh. Maybe if she told Satine what happened, she wouldn’t even believe her. No, she would. At least partially. And then… then what would happen? 

The two of them left the room and soon the building. Fenn wasn’t saying anything, but he kept sneaking glances at Bo as if he wanted to ask her something. She wished that she could believe that he might ask her out, but she just knew that wouldn’t happen. He probably was probably already dating someone. 

And even if he wasn’t… 

But she wished he would ask her out. They could get ice cream and talk and she could look into his eyes which had to be bluer than the skies of Alderaan. And then maybe they would kiss, and she could find out if it would feel like she imagined it would. She had never been kissed before. 

“Where were you?” Fenn asked. Yes, there it was. An obvious question for him to ask. “Your sister wouldn’t like you going anywhere without a protector.” 

“I know,” Bo said, biting her lip. “I just… I need time away sometimes. I feel so… trapped. I know I’m not supposed to do it, but everything is supposed to be safe now and besides I’m not hopeless. I know how to fight.” 

Satine was being too overprotective with how she didn’t want Bo to leave the palace or the Academy unless she had protectors with her. No one was going to go after Bo. Well… unless she did tell Satine the truth. Pre had threatened her. She didn’t want to believe he would actually do anything but what if she was wrong? 

“I know you do, but she’s just trying to protect you,” Fenn said. He walked close enough that his arm brushed against hers. It was as if butterflies were in her stomach. 

“She doesn’t need to,” Bo said, keeping it cool. “She should worry more about other things.” 

Fenn shrugged. 

“Fenn, can you do me a favor?” Bo stopped and looked at him. She tried to act like looking in his blue eyes wasn’t a big deal and had no effect on her. She didn’t want to seem like an annoying person who had a crush. 

Even if she did have a crush on him. 

“What do you want me to do?” Fenn also stopped. He smiled slightly at her. He had a good smile too. The two of them were almost at the speeder. 

“Can you please not tell my sister that I was gone?” 

“Bo-Katan, she’ll want to know why I was—” 

“Then just say I was at the library or at a friend’s and was avoiding you.” She paused but then reached out and grabbed his hands. She thought he might pull away, but he didn’t. “I don’t want to worry her and I… I have a lot going on.” 

Fenn still didn’t pull his hands away. “What do you mean you have a lot going on?” 

He was really going to concentrate on that? Bo pulled away now. She couldn’t tell him what happened on Concordia or even that she was going there. For now, she couldn’t tell anyone. 

“Just… school things.” 

Fenn raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t supposed to look at her like this. She wanted him to look at her like some of her friends’ boyfriends looked at them. 

“Nothing big,” Bo said again, trying to act normal. 

“Fine, we’ll do that, but you can tell me what’s really going on if you need to.” 

She wished she could. She really did, but he would tell Satine. He would have to because of his job. He would think he was doing what was best for her, Satine, and all of Mandalore. She wished she knew what was best. 

It didn’t take them that long to get to the palace. Bo was going to have to keep it cool here. She had no idea what Satine would have to say to her, but it couldn’t be as big as what Bo had found out. She had to think more about what she was going to do before she just did it. She couldn’t let being around Satine change this. 

She could do more research on Death Watch and keep an eye on them. If she found out that what they were doing was truly awful then she would tell Satine. Despite what that might mean for Bo. Despite that Pre Vizsla would hate her and he was the only person who understood what she was going through with losing her mother. 

“I’m sorry that we’re late,” Fenn said once they had found Satine in the palace. She was in the living quarters and stood up and came over to them. She instantly pulled Bo into a hug, which was… worrisome. 

Something was wrong. 

“It’s my fault we’re late,” Bo said, pulling away from her sister. “I was with some of my friends at the Academy and didn’t know that Fenn was looking for me. Otherwise, I would have been in my room.” 

Satine just nodded, accepting that way easier than Bo would have thought. “That’s fine. I understand. You should be able to spend time with your friends.” 

Yes, this was going too easily.

“Thank you, Fenn Rau, for bringing her here. You don’t have to stay down.” 

Fenn nodded. “Have a good day, Duchess Satine. Bo-Katan.” He didn’t say anything else and left the two of them alone. Bo didn’t know where Korkie was. 

“I’m sorry that I interrupted your time with your friends,” Satine said, which was never something she would say. “I’m glad that you’re having fun.” 

“Yeah…” Bo put her hand on the back of her head and sighed. “What’s going on, Satine? Why did you need me to come here?” 

She wanted her sister to say something about how she just missed and wanted to see her. Maybe they could do something like they used to. They could watch a holodrama or just talk. It would be nice to just be able to talk to her sister about normal things. Perhaps she could even tell her that she had a crush and get her advice. 

Not that she would tell Satine that her crush was on Fenn. 

But her sister probably could give good advice. After all, she had… whatever she had with the Jedi. 

Satine pulled her over to the couch and they both sat down. Yes, this was going to be bad. Bo hoped she was wrong and Satine would just say something about how she was seeing someone or something like that, but she knew that wouldn’t be the case. This was going to be bad. 

“You remember what I told you about the person who… killed our mother?” Satine asked. 

And that was all it took. This just… No…

“You’re not going to let him go back to his home world. You’re not going to let him do that, Satine.” 

She better tell Bo that she wasn’t. That he would pay for what he had done. That she had changed her mind on the death penalty and he would suffer like he deserved. Slowly and painfully. 

“Bo, I really… I tried… I didn’t want to… We have the same mother. I wanted for him to face justice here on Mandalore.” 

“Then he should! You can make it so he does!” She stood up and put her hands on her hips. Her sister shouldn’t be acting like she had no control over this. She had all the control. That world he was from, it wasn’t important. Mandalore could easily make them submit if they had to. Even with Satine’s peaceful regime, that didn’t change what Mandalorians were deep down. 

They were warriors. 

“Bo, I haven’t given up, but it’s… well, it doesn’t look like things—” 

“Just say it, Satine. Just admit it. You’re going to let him go back to his home world and then he’s not going to get in any trouble for what he did!” She was yelling but she didn’t care. How could Satine do this to their family? How could she? Their mother wouldn’t want this. Their mother had been far from perfect, but she didn’t deserve this.

And to think that Satine had been her favorite. 

“His home world might prosecute—” 

“No, they won’t! He’ll get away with it! He’ll get away with it and it’s your fault because you… you can’t do what needs to be done!” How could she do this? Not only was she ruining everything and their family, but she was hurting Mandalore. What would the other worlds do about this?! 

“Bo-Katan, I’m sorry. I—” 

“You’re not sorry! You’re not sorry at all and I… I hate you!” Bo didn’t say anything else and stormed out of the room. She had to get away from her sister. She had to! 

Maybe Pre had been right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed it!


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre Vizsla gives Bo a "gift"

Satine better change her mind. She better realize that it was a horrible idea to give that criminal back to his home world. 

“You can’t seriously do this, Satine,” Bo said. It had been over a month, but whenever she went to the palace, which now was only to try to convince Satine to change her mind or because she had been forced to, she would talk to her about this. 

“Bo-Katan, we’ve talked about this,” Satine said with a sigh as she put down her work data pad and sighing. Bo knew she had just gotten off work before she showed up, which is what Bo had planned. Usually, she spoke to her on days she had off. Maybe just maybe she would pay more attention to her now. 

Bo doubted it but she had to try something. 

“Don’t you—” 

“Yes, I care about our mother,” Satine said again as she stood up off the couch and folded her arms over her chest. “I’m sorry, Bo-Katan. I wish I could explain why I’m doing this in a way that you understand. You just… maybe when you’re older you’ll understand.” 

“When I’m older? You weren’t that much older than me when you became the Duchess!” And Bo wasn’t going to change her mind about this. “He was trying to kill you. You know that he was trying to kill you and Mother just got in the way.” 

Satine froze.

“It’s true—” 

“No, it’s not, Bo,” Satine whispered. “He wasn’t after me.” 

Bo stared at her. That didn’t even make sense. Why wouldn’t they have been after Satine? She was the one who was in charge and had such insane views. Their mother… well, had similar views, but she didn’t have that much power anymore. She hadn’t since the Jedi had brought Satine back almost a decade ago. 

“Then who were they after, Satine?” Bo wanted to hear this. Needed to hear this. Her sister had to be wrong or she was saying this to make herself feel better. 

“They were after her.” Before Bo could say something her sister put her hand up to stop her, which annoyed her. “And I know it’s… unexpected. I thought they were after me too, but…” She shook her head. “Maybe there were plans to assassinate me la—” 

“And this is why he can’t be allowed free,” Bo said. She tried to stand up even straighter than usual so she was taller than Satine. Maybe this even made it worse. He probably had plans and allies. He might be able to work with other people to hurt them and Mandalore again. If they kept him, they could show the other worlds and systems that Mandalore and its rulers weren’t to be messed with. That was the Mandalorian way after all, wasn’t it? “He should die, Satine. Slowly and—” 

“Stars, Bo-Katan! I don’t want him to go free and he’s—” 

“But you’re letting him! You’re… You have no idea how much this hurts me.” 

Satine sighed and reached out to put her hands on Bo’s shoulders, but she pulled backward. She didn’t want her sister to touch her. She couldn’t stand her. It was hard to even be in the room with her now. 

“Bo… I know it hurts you, and I’m sorry.” 

Bo rolled her eyes. She wasn’t sorry. She didn’t care at all. 

“I’ve been really…” She paused as if she was considering her words. “Concerned about you recently.”

Bo just stared at her and raised one of her eyebrows. 

“You’ve been… different recently. Your teachers think so too.” They did? When had Satine talked to her teachers? What else did Satine know that she wasn’t supposed to? And I’m worried about you.” This time when Satine reached out, she let her.

“You’re not worried about me,” Bo muttered, even though she hadn’t pushed Satine away yet. “You’re just worried about how it looks to have a sister like me.” 

“I am worried about you, and you’re fine, Bo-Katan.” She moved her hand away and sighed. “Maybe it would help if you talked to someone.” 

“What?” Bo asked. Was her sister saying something was wrong with her? She was fine. She just wanted Satine to do something about their mother’s death. 

“If you talked to someone it could help you… come to terms with everything.” 

“Come to terms with everything? It’s not like I’m in denial!” As if she could forget what happened? She had seen their mother get hit. She had seen her bleed and… Bo shivered. “I’m fine…” 

“I know you are, but it could be…” Satine paused. “It never hurts to have someone to talk to. Someone who can listen and…” 

“I don’t need that. I don’t, Satine.” She already had someone who listened to her. She didn’t need someone who would psychoanalyze her and think she was more messed up than she was. Besides, she had started to talk to Pre again. Yes, she felt bad about it, but it wasn’t like she had anyone else who understood her. 

Even if he… sometimes she didn’t trust him either. It was so confusing. But at least he was doing something. He wasn’t letting Bo’s mother’s murderer go free. 

“I really believe it could help you,” Satine said. Her voice was so soft and her blue eyes were wide and full of concern. “And that’s just what I want. I want you to be happier.” 

Bo studied her sister. She just couldn’t believe her. 

“You’ve had a tough life. I can’t imagine what it must have been like having to be taken from Mother when you were so small. At least I was a teenager and—”

“I’m fine, Satine. You don’t need to worry about me.” She rolled her eyes. This was ridiculous. There was no way that Bo was going to agree to talk to someone. She was fine. She didn’t need them to try and fix her when she was… good enough. What if Satine wanted someone to brainwash her to believe what she did? 

If she had told Pre about this, she was sure that he would say that was what she was trying to do. Bo didn’t want to think her sister would do that, and yet maybe she would. 

Satine sighed. “I just think—” 

“I know what you think, but I’m fine. Just… please don’t let him go.” 

But it wasn’t going to make a difference what Bo said, since her sister had made it clear that she didn’t care about her opinion. 

“Bo…” her sister said in a small voice. “I…” She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “I... This really will be best for Mandalore in the end. I promise you’ll understand one day.” 

Yeah, she really doubted that.

“In a few days… we’re going to be giving him back in a few days, but I promise that we’ve talked to the other world and—” 

“You’ve talked to the other world? You’ve…” Bo couldn’t handle this. She just couldn’t. Breathing… it was even hard to breathe. She had known that Satine wouldn’t actually change her mind, but she had hoped that somehow, she would. That she would be wrong. 

But of course, Bo wasn’t wrong. Not when it came to this. Her sister was betraying her and their family. Really all of Mandalore. Bo tried to get out of there, but Satine grabbed her arm. 

“Bo, I… I want you to know I’m always going to be here for you. I know you’re mad at me now but—” 

“Shut up, Satine. Just shut up for once!” Bo didn’t wait for her to say anything else. She stormed out of the room. Out of the palace. She couldn’t handle looking at her sister for another second. She just wouldn’t be able to take it. 

It was all too much.

***

Bo stayed away from the palace. She needed space away from her sister. Every day, she was worried that she would show up and try to talk. Or worse maybe she would show up and then make her talk to some head doctor who would want to turn her into a Satine clone. 

And Bo just… she just couldn’t let that happen.

On Friday, she decided she would go to Concordia, even though since… that incident had happened a couple months ago, she hadn’t been there. She just couldn’t stay at the Royal Academy, not when there was a chance Satine would show up, wanting to talk about what she did. She didn’t care if the school told her that she was gone and said she was going home. She would deal with it all later. 

Right now she just had to get as far away as she possibly could. 

Really Concordia was even too close, but she would take what she could get. She didn’t even wait for classes to end on Friday. She didn’t care if they contacted Satine. Normally she wouldn’t have been this careless. She would be careful since she didn’t want her sister to get suspicious. Maybe she should be even more careful now that her sister wanted her to go to a head doctor. 

But she was going to lose it if she stayed. 

Wednesday… the day he had been let go… She hadn’t even been able to bring herself to go to class. She had just laid in her bed all day. Her roommate had even gotten worried and asked all sorts of questions about if she was sick. 

Somehow, she got her to leave. 

But she kept giving her looks like she was worried about her. Getting out of here… it was a good idea. So she let Pre send her a ship to take her to Concordia. Getting to the ship was easy like always. Before she knew she was stepping off the ship to Concordia. As soon as she got out, Pre greeted her. Ursa was with him too and her face was pale. 

Pre hurried over and hugged Bo. 

“I’m glad you actually decided to come, Bo-Katan,” he said. How could he sound so cheerful when he knew that she had to be upset about what happened? He knew what that murderer being released meant to her. She had told him about it constantly. 

She was almost tempted to let him know just what she thought of his obvious happiness. His strange happiness. Pre never looked very happy, but right now… now that she thought about it, it was almost creepy. 

Especially since Ursa looked the way she did. 

“Oh, don’t worry,” Pre said. “I know you’re upset about what happened to—” 

“I’m more than upset,” Bo said, her voice rising. “I told Satine… I told Satine that she…” She couldn’t even bring herself to continue. She tried not to mention Satine much when she communicated with him now that she knew the truth about what group he was in, but right now she couldn’t help it. 

“Yes, but I have something that’s going to cheer you up,” Pre said. His eyes had a weird glint in them that Bo had never seen. Something like excitement but not quite that. 

That was when Ursa came over and hugged Bo. Somehow just the smell of her reminded her of Krownest and Orie and Tia. Orie and Tia. Bo missed them so much, but she couldn’t sneak to Krownest. They wouldn’t want her to disobey her sister and getting to Concordia would already get her in trouble. 

Apparently Orie and Tia had asked to take her, but Satine said Bo should stay with her. It was stupid because she would rather be with them. At least they understood her. 

“It’s…” Ursa leaned close to her. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Bo-Katan.” Ursa said this all in a whisper. Bo didn’t think that Pre would even be able to hear her. “You really don’t.” 

“Wren, stop being dramatic. Bo-Katan isn’t soft.” He grabbed Bo and pulled her away from Ursa. “And I don’t know why you had to insist on coming with us.” 

“I missed Bo,” Ursa said, sweetly, but there was something else in her voice. “And I wanted to see her reaction to this.” 

“Reaction to what?” Bo asked.

He grinned and lead the two of them away. Even though Bo had been on Concordia a lot now, they never went far from his place. He led them to an area that looked like some kind of camp. She was probably sure this was where a mining camp used to be here. It looked like it. But now… now it was a Death Watch camp. 

“You know that—” Ursa tried to say. 

“No one cares, Wren,” Pre said. 

Right now, Bo didn’t care either. She wanted to see what Pre had for her. He pulled her over to a tent. 

“Close your eyes.” 

Ursa sighed and rolled her eyes, but Bo did what he wanted. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the tent. Ursa’s footsteps sounded behind them, which was good because she wanted her to be here too. If only because of how strange Pre had acted a couple months ago. 

He moved his hands away and Bo saw him… him… the person who had killed her mother. For a second, she struggled to breathe. She couldn’t keep herself from reacting even though she constantly was told by others and was telling herself 

He looked just like he had in the holoimages she’d seen with the rusty blond hair and the merciless ruthless eyes. He had a black eye now and looked close to passing out, but he still managed to raise his head to look at Bo.

For a moment, she almost stumbled backward. This… This just couldn’t be happening. 

“Here he is, Bo-Katan. The man who murdered your mother.” Pre put his arm on her shoulder and then pushed her forward. “The man who is the reason you’re an orphan.”

“She’s… She’s… little princess…” the murderer said. He let out a hacking cough. “Little girl, I’m—” 

“Don’t speak to her,” Pre said. 

“You’re a bastard, Vizsla. You pl—” 

“Don’t speak to me either.” And that was when Pre grinned at Bo, but this was a different smile than she had ever seen from him. “Do you know what my gift is to you, Bo-Katan?” He handed her a blaster. “You get to kill him.” 

Kill him… He wanted her to kill him. 

“You can show him the same mercy he showed your mother. Which is none. You can end his life, Bo. You deserve it.” 

Bo looked at the man. She knew what she had to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of my darker chapters so far. Hope you all still enjoyed it


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bo does what she thinks she needs to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any typos!

Bo knew what she had to do. She really did. But it was still hard. She hadn’t done something like this before, but at the same time she always knew that she would have to kill someone eventually. It was just bound to happen. Her life had been surrounded by war and death. It was a part of her very marrow. 

And if there was any way that would end, that had vanished when her mother was shot in front of her. 

“My mother was my only parent left,” Bo said, her voice sounding foreign. It was as if it didn’t belong to her. “And you took her from me. My mother… She’s not even…” She wasn’t even the ruler of Mandalore. It didn’t make sense. “And you’re going to pay for that.” 

“Isn’t it not honorable for Mandalorians to kill people who aren’t armed?” the man asked. His eyes were wide with fear. Good. Bo wanted him to be afraid. She wanted him to feel some of the pain that he had made her feel. 

“You had your chances already.” Pre put his hand on Bo’s shoulder again. “But if you would like to challenge me for the Darksaber then… well, you’ll wish you had just let the “little princess” kill you.” 

“I can fight him—” Bo tried to say. 

“No, that isn’t necessary,” Pre said. “He did what he did and now it’s time for him to die. Unless he does want to challenge me for the Darksaber. That might be fun.” 

He looked between the two of them. 

“You should just do it, Bo,” Ursa said.

But Bo didn’t need her opinion. She didn’t need anyone’s. What she needed to do was to think about her mother. Her mother who had been so flawed and liked Satine more than her just like everyone did. Despite that, she was still her mother and she should be here. If she was, things would be different. Different with Satine. Just different. 

Things would be better. 

Bo pointed the blaster at him. She was Mandalorian and sometimes Mandalorians had to kill. That was just how it was, and she wasn’t going to be weak. But part of her could hear what Satine would say about this. 

She would say that she should turn away from revenge and violence. She would probably say something about how revenge would make her feel worse and how there was no coming back from it. But Bo… she just couldn’t care about it. Besides, she wasn’t doing this to feel better. 

At least not only. 

She was doing because this was what he deserved. She was bringing him to justice. 

“You… Are you…?” He didn’t think she was doing to do it. This murderer didn’t think she was going to do it. “Maybe you are like your sister. I don’t think she would like—” 

“Shut up!” Bo ordered. All she had to do was pull the trigger and then it would be over. 

“Bo-Katan,” Pre said. 

And that was all that it took. She pulled the trigger. She wasn’t going to let Satine get into her head. She wouldn’t. This was right. This was… the way. 

She didn’t miss. How could she after all the practice she had done? She hit him perfectly in the head. He fell over. Dead. Bo stared at him. She… wow… She didn’t even know what to think. She didn’t… But this was the right thing. Now he would never harm anyone again and especially no one in her family. 

This… She had done the right thing. 

Pre put his arm over her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. “That’s my girl, Bo-Katan. I knew you had it in you. I knew you weren’t soft like Satine.” 

“He… He got what he deserved.” Bo didn’t look away from his body though. She… she just couldn’t. 

“Snap out of it, Bo-Katan.” She finally looked at him. He was grinning. “Don’t get all sensitive now. You did what you had to do. This is something to be proud of.” 

“Yeah, I know.” Bo gave him the blaster. Her voice didn’t have any emotion in it. It sounded cold and still foreign to her. Bo had imagined what it would be like when she first killed. Sometimes, she had wondered if she would cry. Other times she thought she would be happy because she obviously would have done what she had to do and well… Mandalorians sometimes had to kill.

Instead…

Bo didn’t know what she thought, but there was no way that she could cry. He did deserve this. Still she looked at him. 

She could only think of what Satine would have said if she was ever to find out. But she wouldn’t. And besides Bo had done her a favor. Satine would never have been able to get her hands dirty. She wouldn’t want to have blood on her hands. Bo could handle it. She was the stronger Kryze sister. 

Really she was protecting her sister. 

“The first kill is the hardest,” Ursa said, coming over and pulling her away from Pre. Bo just stared at her, not sure what to think or how she was supposed to feel. Was there something wrong with her? Ursa must not have realized she was deep in thought because she continued. “But you did do what you needed to. He hurt your family and no one should get away with something like that.” 

“Yes, yes, I know,” Bo said, finally looking away from him. She had no plans to look back. “And I did what I needed to for my family and for my clan. And for… Mandalore.” All of this sounded right. And part of it even felt right. 

“You did!” Pre exclaimed. “And now it’s time for us to celebrate. Bo-Katan is becoming a real Mandalore, and she got the revenge that she deserved.”

“Celebrate?” Bo asked, trying to smile, but it didn’t feel normal. She let it fade and looked up at Pre. 

“Yes, a big celebration.” Pre wouldn’t stop grinning. “Everyone should know that Bo-Katan is turning into a real Mandalorian. Not some prissy one who is too afraid of doing what needs to be done. I always knew that you had it in you. That you were different from your sister.” 

Bo just nodded. 

***

The big celebration wasn’t actually for Bo. She didn’t know what it was for. Something Death Watch related, but when she tried to get information from Pre he refused to tell her. 

“When you join Death Watch you can know more.” 

When… when you join Death Watch. Before Bo would have felt like she had to correct him, now she was starting to wonder if there was no way this could be avoided. 

“When you’re in Death Watch you can learn to do what is necessary,” Pre said. Once again he had her arm around her shoulder. 

She looked up at him and smiled. “Aren’t I already learning what needs to be done?” 

He laughed. “Yes, but you can learn more.” He let go of her and got her a drink. Bo didn’t know what it was but she took it and had a big sip from it. She wanted to gag right away. Alcohol. She made herself not. She didn’t want to look like a child. She couldn’t look like a child. Still, he laughed. “Just drink it. You’ll get used to alcohol.” 

Bo bit her lip but nodded and took a smaller sip. She wasn’t going to seem weak. Yes, she might have done what she had to already, but she wasn’t going to seem weak when it came to something like this either. She was strong and she was going to show them all that she was grown up. 

Her sister might always treat her like a child, but she wouldn’t let people here treat her that way.

Eventually Pre left to talk to some other people. Bo talked to a few people, but it was odd. She wondered if they knew who she was related to. She wondered what they thought of her. Ursa eventually found her. She was also drinking something. 

“You sure you’re okay?” 

Bo took a sip of her drink. It was starting to taste less bad. This was only the third time she had alcohol. But three times was a decent amount. Shouldn’t she be getting better at drinking it? She wasn’t going to embarrass herself like she had on Krownest. She didn’t want Ursa or anyone else to think she was a child. 

“Yes,” Bo said. 

“Pre Vizsla’s right that asshole deserved to die since he hurt you, but… I know that your first kill—” 

“You already said some of this,” Bo said. She didn’t want to talk about the person who she killed. She didn’t want to think about it too much. She… well she had done what she needed to do. She had done the dirty work that Satine wasn’t willing to do. If she had to do things like this, then that was fine. 

“I know, but he was there.” 

Bo shrugged. 

“And I thought… You know it’s okay to be upset,” Ursa said. “My first kill… It was justified but still.” 

Bo took a long drink of her alcohol. She was almost out. If Ursa kept talking about this, then she was going to have to get more. 

“I’m fine,” Bo said. 

Ursa paused, but then nodded. In a way, right now, she was reminding Bo of Satine. She shouldn’t like that. She really shouldn’t, but there was a small part of her that did. A really small part. 

“And you don’t have to drink that if you don’t want to either,” Ursa said being not just Satine like but almost mom like. 

Bo responded by drinking the rest of it. She knew that it was really, really mature, but right now she didn’t care. 

Ursa rose her eyebrows. “Okay, but if you want to talk about what happened later, then that’s fine.” She smirked. “Or you know I could work with you too. You don’t just need to spar with Vizsla and Lottie.” 

It would be nice to have someone else to go shooting and spar with. She didn’t even get to see Lottie as much now. She wondered where she was now. It didn’t look like she was on Concordia. 

It was too bad. She would have liked to hear what Lottie had to say about all of this. 

Bo forced herself to nod. “I would like that.” 

“I’ve heard that you’re pretty good,” Ursa said. “But everyone needs to practice at times.” 

Bo did agree and wished that she could practice more normally but being in Mandalore near her sister was a problem. Mandalore was historically a warrior society, but Satine… Bo shook her head. 

“We should get more alcohol,” Bo said. She smiled at Ursa, making sure that it was a normal smile and not the kind that people got when they were drunk. At least she hoped it was a normal smile and not one that made her look stupid.

Ursa examined her, but then she nodded and made them drinks. Bo was pretty sure hers didn’t have much alcohol in it, but she could taste the bitter taste of at least a little bit. Bo had a lot more fun than she thought she would, especially since Pre was too busy to spend time with her. Ursa introduced Bo to some other people around their ages and she had fun. They played Sabaac and it was just fun. 

They wanted to know all about Bo’s kill. She wanted to exaggerate it, but since Ursa was there, she didn’t and instead played it cool. Talking about it… it gave her a weird feeling also. Guilt? No, there was no way it was guilt when she had done what needed to be done. 

It grew late and eventually Bo went to Ursa’s tent with her. Pre had asked her if she wanted to stay in one of his guest rooms, but Ursa had smiled and laughed. 

“Bo and I want to have girl time. A sleep over,” Ursa said, laughing. Right now she sounded a lot drunker than she had only a few minutes ago. “Right, Bo Bo?” 

“Yes,” Bo said. 

And so that was that. 

Bo fell asleep soon after. All her dreams were of her killing the man who murdered her mother. They would play over and over again. In some of the dreams, she wouldn’t want to do it, but she would force herself to pull the trigger even as tears ran down her cheeks. In some she would stop herself from it, but then Pre would yell at her and she would have no choice. In others, she would do it without even hesitating like she had before. In others she would miss and then she would have to shoot at him again. 

In all of them she died. 

In all of them she felt too many things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this chapter is okay. It's another one I wasn't sure about. Please comment and leave kudos. Also feel free to check out my other stories in this series if you want!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading! Please comment! They help keep me inspired.


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